Effects of antibiotics on childhood gut microbiota

Abstract

The gut microbiota resides in the human gastrointestinal tract, maintaining a certain homeostatic balance. Recent advancements in next-generation sequencing have accelerated our understanding of the human gut microbiota and its role in human health. The imbalance of the gut microbiota (dysbiosis) in childhood elevates the risk of various diseases. Therefore, preventing and correcting dysbiosis is related to maintaining and promoting lifetime health. Among various factors that affect the establishment of gut microbiota, the impact of antibiotics is large. Therefore, we conducted a study on patients with febrile urinary tract infections to reveal the long-term effect of low-dose antibiotic use on childhood gut microbiota. Among the participants, the initial treatment dose of antibiotics significantly decreased the microbial diversity, and the order Lactobacillales became dominant. However, after the initial treatment, diversity recovered within 1 to 2 months and was maintained even during the use of low-dose trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole, which revealed that the impact of low-dose antibiotics on childhood gut microbiota is insignificant. Furthermore, the order Enterobacteriales, which includes the main causative bacteria of febrile urinary tract infections, was suppressed in patients under prophylaxis, indicating that prophylaxis using trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole is an effective and safe treatment to prevent febrile urinary tract infections.