Study: Repeated use of antibiotics can create havoc in the stomach

September 15th, 2010 - 8:16 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

antibiotics Sep 15 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The human gut is home to trillions of bacteria and a recent research has indicated repeated use of antibiotics can have long lasting alteration to the bacteria.

The recent study has raised the question of whether antibiotics are safe for the body after repeated use. Most of the bacteria in the human gut are beneficial to the body. In fact some of them are indispensable to the body. Scientists call the group of bacteria, fungi and other microbes all over the body microbiome.

Antibiotics are already known to cause infection-causing bacteria to become drug resistant and the new research raises questions on whether the abnormalities on the microbiome are linked to health problems in the body.

Dr. David Relman of Stanford University led the study into the use of antibiotics. Dr. Relman said the bacteria in the gut are important in the development of the human’s immune system and warned that they should not be taken for granted.

“Gut communities are fundamentally important in the development of our immune system. Let’s not take them for granted,” according to Dr. David Relman of Stanford University, who led the antibiotic study.

The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

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