Microbes: What They Do & How Antibiotics Change Them
Antibiotics and antibacterials can do more damage than good when they:
- kill good bacteria inside the human body
- destroy microbes that clean up pollution
- lead to antibiotic resistance in microorganisms
- make treatment of some diseases difficult when overused
Dr Maura Meade-Callahan PhD presents a summary article to explain further.
Related articles:
- Antibiotics Take Toll on Beneficial Microbes in Gut
- Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria: Origins and Emergence
- The gut microbiota shapes intestinal immune responses during health and disease
Keywords:antibiotics, bacteria, commensal, gut
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The immune system is prone to the same grave misfortunes as any defense system handling weapons: collateral damage that comes with the destruction of the enemy on one’s own territory and friendly fire due to mistaken identity. Whereas the collateral damage is the price we pay for clearance of infections, autoimmunity is a pathological process. Nevertheless, the effector mechanisms involved in both processes are the same. Whether environment can be a cause, a trigger or an amplifier of an autoimmune disease are questions that are being intensively investigated.
[...] What is perhaps the greatest medicinal discovery in the last 100 years has a sting in its tail, the tremendous success in managing bacterial infection has encouraged over and inappropriate use of antibiotics, the problems of which have been well documented. This review explores the developing comprehension that even a single day of antibiotic use has consequences that may produce transient and longterm effects that compromise the health and well being of the patient and their bacterial co-habitants. [...]