The side effects of antibiotics may make the war on hostile bacteria trickier to wage than ever
STAY the course. We should pay particular attention to that advice when we are prescribed antibiotics. Not swallowing every last tablet gives bacteria the opportunity to develop resistance and become potentially lethal superbugs.
Even taking our medicine as directed can have dramatic effects on our health. A full course of antibiotics is literally hard to stomach: the drugs can decimate our gut bacteria, upsetting our digestive systems. We used to think they recovered in a matter of days. But recent research suggests that commonly prescribed antibiotics can trigger long-term, perhaps permanent, changes in the make-up of a person's microbiome – the 100 trillion microbes that inhabit each of our bodies.
Keep reading: Antibiotics are wonder drugs no more – opinion – 28 March 2012 – New Scientist.
