While antibiotics have been lifesaving, the overprescription of antibiotics has sparked the evolution of drug-resistant strains of life threatening bacteria which has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths each year. The US Centers for Disease Control estimates that up to 50 % of prescribed antibiotics in the USA are unnecessary. Unfortunately, the use of antibiotics is often in those groups that are also more vulnerable to dysbiosis including infants born via C-section and in those born preterm when compared to term infants born vaginally. Potentially compounding the problems. Microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites cause many of the world’s diseases, yet only bacterial infections are usually susceptible to treatment with commonly prescribed antibiotics.
However, even more subtle side effects of antibiotics on the gut microbiome are only just beginning to be discovered. Just one does of antibiotics can wipe our you gut microbiome and last for years and even longer.
