Major shift seen in composition and in antimicrobial resistance gene profile directly after treatment, which normalized over 12 months<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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THURSDAY, March 10, 2022 (HealthDay News) — For neonates with suspected early-onset neonatal sepsis (sEONS), the overall gut microbial community composition and antimicrobial resistance gene profile shift directly following antibiotic treatment, according to a study published online Feb. 16 in Nature Communications<\/em>.<\/p>\n Marta Reyman, from the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital and University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, and colleagues randomly assigned 147 infants born at \u00e2\u0089\u00a536 weeks of gestational age requiring broad-spectrum antibiotics for sEONS treatment (average duration, 48 hours) in their first week of life to receive penicillin + gentamicin, co-amoxiclav + gentamicin, or amoxicillin + cefotaxime. Eighty infants who were not treated with antibiotics from a healthy birth cohort served as controls. Before and immediately after treatment, and at 1, 4, and 12 months of life, rectal swabs and\/or feces were collected. Microbiota were characterized, and a panel of 31 antimicrobial resistance genes was tested.<\/p>\n The researchers found that directly following treatment, there was a major shift in the overall gut microbial community composition and antimicrobial resistance gene profile, which normalized over 12 months. Compared with controls, antibiotic-treated infants had decreased abundance of Bifidobacterium <\/em><\/em>spp. and increased abundance of Klebsiella<\/em> and Enterococcus<\/em> spp. The largest effect on both the microbial community composition and antimicrobial resistance gene profile was seen for amoxicillin + cefotaxime, while the least effects were observed with penicillin + gentamicin.<\/p>\n “We were surprised with the magnitude and duration of the effects of broad spectrum antibiotics on the infants’ microbiome when compared to effects of those same antibiotics on adults’ microbiota,” a coauthor said in a statement.<\/strong><\/p>\n