When children in low- and middle-income countries experience acute watery diarrhea, their gut microbiome goes through significant changes. Antibiotics are often prescribed to help them recover, but how these medications impact the gut microbiome during recovery has been unclear. A recent study conducted in Vietnam aimed to shed light on this topic by examining the gut microbiota of children with acute watery diarrhea and observing the effects of antibiotic treatment.
What Did the Study Find?
- Changes During Recovery: Regardless of whether they received antibiotics or not, children recovering from diarrhea showed similar patterns in their gut microbiota. They experienced reductions in certain bacteria like ๐๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ข, while others like ๐๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด/๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ฆ๐ช๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข, ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ข๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ข๐ค๐ข๐ฆexpanded. These changes are part of the body’s natural response to recovering from diarrhea.
- Impact of Antibiotics: Antibiotic treatment slowed down the recovery process of the gut microbiota. It delayed the increase in diversity of gut bacteria, leading to distinctive patterns of taxonomic change. For example, antibiotics caused a temporary increase in ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ด species, which are known to proliferate after antibiotic exposure. However, this overabundance was transient and decreased significantly by the second week.
- Selective Effects: Antibiotics had selective effects on certain bacteria. For instance, ๐๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ which contributes to gut health, was particularly susceptible to antibiotics and experienced a reduction in abundance. On the other hand, antibiotics led to the expansion of ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ด species, which have complex virulence traits and can potentially transfer antibiotic resistance genes to other bacteria.
- Species-Level Differentiation: Antibiotics also influenced the gut microbiota at the species or strain level. For example, certain ๐๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด species increased after antibiotic treatment, while others decreased. This variability could be attributed to differences in mucin-degrading capability and antibiotic resistance profiles among bacterial species.
What Does This Mean?
This study highlights the impact of antibiotics on the gut microbiota during recovery from diarrhea in children. While antibiotics may help treat the underlying infection, they can also disrupt the balance of gut bacteria, potentially affecting gut health in the long term. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for optimizing treatment strategies and minimizing the unintended consequences of antibiotic use. In the future, more research is needed to explore how different antibiotics and dosages may impact the gut microbiota and to develop strategies to mitigate these effects while still effectively treating infections.
Link to the article : https://tinyurl.com/637wczr2
