Does our intestinal microbiome recover after the use of antibiotics?

How do antibiotics affect bacteria in the gut??

When people use antibiotics, it causes a change in the bacteria in their intestines. Is such a change reversible or is it irreversible? Researchers have now found out that our gut microbiome is recovering after using antibiotics, but this process takes about six months.

The researchers from the University of Copenhagen found in their current study that the intestinal microbiome recovered after the use of antibiotics and after about six months, almost back to its normal state. The physicians published the results of their study in the English-language journal "Nature Microbiology".

Although antibiotics are now helping many early life-threatening infections, the intestinal flora suffers considerably from these medicines. Do the bacteria in the intestine regenerate after the use of antibiotics? (Image: Gundolf Renze / fotolia.com)

Intestinal microbiota plays important role in the health

We still do not fully understand the important and complex role that gut microbiotics play in human health, although we know that billions of bacteria in the human body affect our immune function and digestion. It is particularly interesting how antibiotics affect the intestinal microbiome and how well it can recover after treatment, the experts say.

Some bacteria could not regenerate

In their study, the scientists investigated how the bacteria in the intestine recover after treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics. They found in twelve male volunteers that these six months after use again showed a largely normal microbiome level. However, nine types of bacteria in the intestine never appeared again. Instead, there were some unwanted types of bacteria that could prevail.

What exactly was studied in the study?

The researchers initially took stool samples from twelve healthy men. So they wanted to find out how their microbiome looked at the beginning. These twelve participants then took a cocktail of various antibiotics used for a variety of conditions ranging from drug-resistant bacterial meningitis to chlamydia. This treatment was a modified version of the antibiotic treatments used in intensive care units. After four days of treatment, researchers began to follow the process of eradication, partial survival, gradual regrowth and restoration of these so-called microbial intestinal milieus.

After six months, differences were found in the intestinal microbiome

The scientists examined the microbiome of the subjects with the help of the feces immediately after the use of the antibiotics a few days. A re-examination was then carried out after six months. Immediately after treatment, the diversity of men's microbiome was greatly reduced, but the bacteria were not completely eradicated. After six months, the bacteria were back, but there were some major differences: The abundance of the number of bacterial species the researchers could find was reduced. This indicates that some of the microorganisms that were originally present have been permanently lost or greatly decimated.

After the treatment, new types of bacteria appeared

Follow-up analyzes then confirmed that some species had really disappeared. And there were some bacteria that were not detected before treatment, but could subsequently be detected in the samples. These are spore-forming species that may have lurked in the gut before the antibiotics and did not emerge until the other species were extinguished. A better understanding of such processes could help control some of the bacterial infections that commonly occur after broad-spectrum antibiotic treatments have severely disrupted the normal gut microbiota, the authors of the study explain. During their lifetime, most people will come in contact with antibiotics on several occasions. In this case, it is good to know that sufferers can regenerate their intestinal microbiota, the researchers explain. The concern, however, relates to the potentially permanent loss of beneficial bacteria following multiple exposure to antibiotics during their lifetime.

Antibiotics have advantages as well as disadvantages

Antibiotic treatment in groups of children and the elderly is likely to have different effects. Understanding this complexity in detail should be a task for future research, say the medical profession. Of course, that does not mean that antibiotics are a bad thing, they are responsible for one of the most dramatic miracles of human health in public health. Antibiotics can be a blessing for the preservation of human health, explain the scientists. However, antibiotics should only be used on the basis of clear evidence of a bacterial cause of infection. (As)