Offspring frail when parents take antibiotics

Since antibiotics were invented, we have used them in such large doses and so many times that more and more people have developed drug resistance, so that otherwise common, harmless infections can endanger our lives

In recent years, research has also shown that mere exposure to antibiotics can also have negative effects; both on the exposed organism and on the offspring of that organism

forever in our waters

Many of us, both humans and animals, are exposed to antibiotics

"Antibiotics have a very short half-life - leaving the water after a few hours or days - but since large quantities of antibiotics are continuously released into the water, we consider the antibiotics to be pseudo-persistent water pollution

He is co-corresponding author on the adverse effects of antibiotics, a new study published in Environmental Science and Technology Research.

"In this study, we examined the offspring of zebrafish exposed to CTCs, a common antibiotic

More specifically, the study showed that first-generation zebrafish born to CTC-exposed parents had diminished antimicrobial defenses and reduced numbers of immune cells

Previous research has also shown that males in so-called false scorpions (Cordylochernes scorpioides) had poor sperm quality when fathers were exposed to the antibiotic tetracycline: the number of viable sperm cells dropped by 25 percent

Journal Reference :

1. Wenhui Qiu, Bei Chen, Liang Tang, Chunmiao Zheng, Bentuo Xu, Zhiyu Liu, Jason T.