Single dose of antibiotic leaves mice highly vulnerable to intestinal infection

Yet another study adds to the growing evidence that antibiotics can disrupt the balance of the intestinal flora, with negative effects on health. A team of researchers from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, has shown in mouse models that a single dose of the commonly used antibiotic, clindamycin, wiped out nearly 90 percent of bacterial taxa, leaving the mice unusually susceptible to infection by Clostridium difficile, a bacterial pathogen that is innocuous for most health people but that can cause severe diarrhea in individuals following antibiotic treatment. Their research appears in the January issue of the journal Infection and Immunity.