The effects of antibiotics on the microbiome throughout development and alternative approaches for therapeutic modulation

The widespread use of antibiotics in the past 80 years has saved millions of human lives, facilitated technological progress and killed incalculable numbers of microbes, both pathogenic and commensal. Human-associated microbes perform an array of important functions, and we are now just beginning to understand the ways in which antibiotics have reshaped their ecology and the functional consequences of these changes. Mounting evidence shows that antibiotics influence the function of the immune system, our ability to resist infection, and our capacity for processing food. Therefore, it is now more important than ever to revisit how we use antibiotics. This review summarizes current research on the short-term and…

• GC
  Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: UL1 TR000448, TL1 TR000449, T32 DK077653, TR000448, DK077653, TR000449, DP2-DK-098089
• NI
  National Institute of General Medical Sciences

  Awards: GM099538, R01-GM099538
• NC
  National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

  Awards: UL1 TR000448, UL1 TR000448 and TL1 TR000449, TL1 TR000449, TR000448