The drugs interfere with 'first-line' immune cells—known as neutrophils—and they also weaken the intestinal barrier which stops invading bugs. As a result, we're much more susceptible to 'severe infection', said Koji Watanabe from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

This is because antibiotics destroy the 'good' bacteria in the gut that protect against infections and inflammation, and inflammation is the key to many chronic diseases, from arthritis, heart problems and cancer.

Although medicine accepts that over-use of antibiotics leads to resistance and 'super bugs', it can also be the gateway drug to most of the chronic diseases that afflict the West.

Patients are told they must finish their antibiotic prescription because they would otherwise increase their resistance to the drug. But the very reverse could be true, say researchers from Brighton and Sussex Medical School: it's taking antibiotics unnecessarily that increases resistance.

The drugs are being routinely prescribed for children with bronchiolitis, a common viral lung infection, even though they rarely have any therapeutic value—and they come with a host of side effects that result in 70,000 children needing emergency care in US hospitals every year.

It's already known that fluoroquinolones, which include Levaquin, Cipro and Floxin, can cause serious nerve damage, but now researchers have confirmed that they also trigger aortic aneurysms, bulges in the aorta that can rupture, leading to life-threatening internal bleeding.

Over-the-counter and prescription drugs, including antibiotics, have been discovered in drinking water from wells supplying homes in the state, say researchers from Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Up to six different pharmaceutical compounds were discovered in some of the samples taken from 26 households with private well. The most common were the antibiotics ofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole.