Antibiotics after birth affects gut microbes of babies

Date:
February 18, 2022
Source:
University of Edinburgh
Summary:
Treating babies with antibiotics in the first week of life is
linked with a decrease in healthy bacteria necessary amongst
others to digest milk and an increase in antimicrobial resistance,
research suggests. Experts say that clinicians should consider
using antibiotics in a way that causes least harm to the newborns
microbiome - the community of microbes that live in our body.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Treating babies with antibiotics in the first week of life is linked
with a decrease in healthy bacteria necessary amongst others to digest
milk and an increase in antimicrobial resistance, research suggests.


========================================================================== Experts say that clinicians should consider using antibiotics in a way
that causes least harm to the newborns microbiome -- the community of
microbes that live in our body.

Under current guidelines, antibiotics directed at a wide range of bacteria
- - known as broad-spectrum -- are currently prescribed to four to 10
per cent of all newborns for suspected infections.

However, experts say that in most cases the antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily as only a small proportion of those who receive the drugs
are eventually diagnosed with an infection.

This overprescription is to ensure early treatment for those who are
ultimately found to have an infection as any delay may quickly become life-threatening.

Researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Birmingham, and the
Spaarne Hospital and University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands, conducted a clinical trial involving 227 babies to analyse how antibiotics affect a newborn's microbiome.



==========================================================================
Some 147 infants with suspected sepsis received one of three standard antibiotic treatments. Their outcomes were compared with those of 80
babies with no suspected infections and who were not prescribed an
antibiotic.

All babies had a rectal or faecal sample taken before and after treatment,
and at one, four and 12 months of age. The samples were analysed for the microbes that made up their newly forming microbiome and for bacterial
genes related to antimicrobial resistance.

For newborns that had been prescribed antibiotics, there was found to
be a significant decrease in the levels of different Bifidobacterium
species compared with babies who had no antibiotic treatment.

These microbes aids in the digestion of human breast milk and promotes
gut health, while also supporting the immune defence against infection.

The team also found an increase in potentially disease-causing bacteria
and in the number and abundance of genes related to antimicrobial
resistance in the group that received antibiotics.



==========================================================================
A change in 251 of 695 different bacteria investigated was observed after treatment, changing the balance between good and bad bacteria in favour
of more potentially harmful microbes.

Though gradually recovering over time, the changes to the microbiome
and to antimicrobial resistance genes persisted for at least 12 months
and did not improve with breastfeeding, which is known to help a baby's
immune system.

Professor Debby Bogaert, Chair of Paediatric Medicine at the University
of Edinburgh and study lead, said: "We were surprised with the magnitude
and duration of the effects of broad spectrum antibiotics on the infants' microbiome when compared to effects of those same antibiotics on adults' microbiota. This is likely because the antibiotic treatment is given at
a time that infants have just received their first microbes from their
mother and have not yet developed a resilient microbiome." Of the three antibiotic treatment regimens tested, the combination of penicillin and gentamicin, was found to have the least detrimental effect on a baby's gut microbiome and the number of antimicrobial resistance genes that emerge.

The researchers conclude this particular combination of antibiotics should
be preferably prescribed when treating suspected infections in newborns.

Dr. Marlies van Houten, general paediatrician at the Spaarne Hospital,
the Netherlands, and co-Principal Investigator of the study, said "The
fact that start of antibiotic treatment rather than duration seems
to be responsible for the damage to the microbiome underlines we need
better biomarkers or biological predictors to more accurately determine
which infant will develop an infection and thus require antibiotics,
and which will not." Prof Willem van Schaik, Professor of Microbiology
and Infection at the University of Birmingham, said: "It is particularly troubling that following antibiotic therapy in newborns we observed
a strong increase in Klebsiellaand Enterococcus specieswhich are both
important multidrug-resistant pathogens.

"This underlines the importance of further studies into balancing
the need and effectiveness of these antibiotics and the risk of the
emergence of genes linked with resistance. There may also be scope to
develop new interventions, like live biotherapeutics -- a treatment
that is produced by or involving living cells -- to effectively restore
the composition of the infant gut microbiome after antibiotic therapy."
The findings are published in Nature Communications.This work was funded
by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development.

special promotion Get a free digital "Metabolism Myths"
issue of New Scientist and discover the 7 things we
always get wrong about diet and exercise. Claim_yours_now_>>> ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Edinburgh. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Marta Reyman, Marlies A. van Houten, Rebecca L. Watson, Mei Ling
J. N.

Chu, Kayleigh Arp, Wouter J. de Waal, Irene Schiering, Frans
B. Plo"tz, Rob J. L. Willems, Willem van Schaik, Elisabeth
A. M. Sanders, Debby Bogaert. Effects of early-life antibiotics
on the developing infant gut microbiome and resistome: a
randomized trial. Nature Communications, 2022; 13 (1) DOI:
10.1038/s41467-022-28525-z ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220218080246.htm

--- up 10 weeks, 6 days, 7 hours, 13 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)