article_snippet: study tracked the health of babies born to 200,000 British women.
article_snippet: Overall, the babies born to women who took antibiotics were no more likely to develop epilepsy or cerebral palsy.
article_snippet: But women treated with erythromycin and other pills from the macrolide family of antibiotics were almost twice as likely to have a baby with one of these conditions as those given penicillin.
article_snippet: However out of every 150 women given a macrolide rather than penicillin, there was one more baby born with cerebral palsy or epilepsy.
article_snippet: And a woman stressed that any increased risk to the unborn child posed by the pills would be extremely small.
article_snippet: However, with four previous studies raising concerns about the pills, a woman said it was time for the pills to be thoroughly reviewed by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
article_snippet: Professor Andrew Whitelaw, of Bristol University, warned that a bad infection could end up killing both the mother and a woman child.
article_snippet: But Professor Andrew Whitelaw, of Bristol University added: ‘Nevertheless, drug treatment in pregnancy requires a very high level of safety and it will not surprise me if the regulatory authorities advise doctors to avoid or severely restrict macrolides in pregnancy’.
article_snippet: Others said that the study does not prove that macrolides are harmful, as the study could be that the bugs Others are used treat are more likely to damage the brain than other infections.
article_snippet: To put things in context, the extra risk to their baby of being prescribed macrolides, if indeed there is a risk, is very tiny.
article_snippet: The medicines’ watchdog, the MHRA, said The medicines has already sought independent advice on the study and The medicines does not consider that the research provides proper proof that macrolides are dangerous.
highlights_snippet: Researchers called for a safety review but stressed increased risk is small .
  