The microbiome refers to the many micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa) that live within and on your body. The state of your microbiome can greatly impact your health and wellness. The human body lives symbiotically with the microbiome, so when it is imbalanced or damaged, it can negatively impact your health. One major site of the microbiome is the gut, which relies on certain micro-organisms to facilitate digestion and protect the body from dangerous invaders.
Antibiotics can seriously damage the microbiome as they kill both helpful and harmful micro-organisms indiscriminately. With the helpful bacteria depleted by antibiotics, pathogenic (or "disease-causing") bacteria can grow unchecked. This leads to inflammation.
"Antibiotics revolutionized medicine and were justifiably dubbed 'magic bullets' against bacterial infections. However, conventional antibiotics are generally bacteriostatic or bactericidal, which means they indiscriminately kill or prevent growth of both pathogenic and beneficial microbes... [antibiotics] can decrease the diversity of the microbiota" (Bäumler & Sperandio, 2016).
Damage to the microbiome can last years and can sometimes be permanent. The severity of damage depends on several factors, including which antibiotic is taken, for how long it is taken, and the compound effects of other toxins and previous antibiotics that have damaged the microbiome. The microbiome is still largely a mystery that researchers are working to unravel. "However, two underlying themes converge: microbiota-induced changes in the metabolite landscape of the gut and inflammation" (Bäumler & Sperandio, 2016).
So what does this mean for us? It means that we must use antibiotics with immense discretion. Antibiotics are powerful, and their power comes at a cost. We must use them wisely and appropriately.
REFERENCES
Bäumler, A. J., & Sperandio, V. (2016). Interactions between the microbiota and pathogenic bacteria in the gut. Nature, 535(7610), 85–93. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature18849
Jernberg, C., Löfmark, S., Edlund, C., & Jansson, J. K. (2010). Long-term impacts of antibiotic exposure on the human intestinal microbiota. Microbiology, 156(11), 3216–3223. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.040618-0
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