How This Common Drug Can Have Lasting Effects on Kids

Compared to the mice taking the placebo, the antibiotic-treated animals had less diverse communities of bacteria, and the proportions of the bugs living in their guts were also different. The macrolides seemed to have the biggest effect on reducing microbial richness, while amoxicillin led to abnormally large bones. The changes in the microbiome persisted even to the animals’ death, nearly four months after their last antibiotic dose.

“There are really long-term, probably permanent effects on the microbiome from antibiotics,” says Blaser. “We showed changes in the richness and the community structure, and also the genes present in the bacteria.”

How This Common Drug Can Have Lasting Effects on Kids