Effects of Antibiotics on Good Bacteria

A very interesting study has been published that shows that it takes a month for your gut flora to recover from antibiotic treatment, and up to 6 months for a full recovery to the pre-antibiotic state.

Our current culture has doctors prescribing antibiotics at a whim (eg, for the common cold, which is caused by a virus), everyone using antibacterial hand soap (hint: soap kills most germs without added antibacterial agents), a new craze for sanitizing every surface in the house with bleach, and paranoia about children getting dirty or sick (eg, vaccinations for the non-lethal chicken pox). On the first point, I recall that if you missed more than a few days at (public) school, you needed a doctors note. I assume this is still the case: child gets cold, sniffles last 3 days, mom takes child to doctor, doctor prescribes antibiotics and writes a note. The backlash (besides increased medical bills and health insurance premiums) is that the natural, symbiotic, good bacteria take a beating. Educated, health-conscious people already knew this, but now there’s proof.

(Link via PhysOrg)

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11:10 am on November 18, 2008