Contrary to the opinion of the conventional medical establishment, there is no free lunch when it comes to antibiotics. Doctors, for the most part, are still handing out prescriptions like candy to their patients despite the continuing and growing problem of antibiotic resistance.
There is now a strain of tuberculosis (TB), the scourge of the last century, that is completely resistant to all antibiotics. Doctors have nicknamed this TB strain “TDR” for Totally Drug-Resistant. As of January 2012, a dozen patients in India were infected with this TB superbug.
The problem with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections continues to expand with babies and children representing a large chunk of the cases. I’ve been contacted by more than one young mother recently who was beyond desperate to resolve an MRSA infection in her child – an infection which was resisting all conventional treatments like antibiotics.
Beyond the problem of antibiotic resistance, however, are the long term effects of even a single round of antibiotics. The expectation in the health community that you can just fix the damage with probiotics and/or fermented foods and that gut flora magically returns to normal seems to be far from accurate.
Evidence is now emerging from multiple sources that gut flora may actually be permanently altered by drugs or, at the very least, the damage persists for several years.
Gut Damage from Antibiotics Persists for Long Periods of Time
The Journal Microbiology reports that the generally acknowledged precept that use of antibiotics only causes disruption of the gut flora for a few weeks is highly flawed.
Gut flora does not quickly return to normal after a round of antibiotics.
Even a short course of antibiotics can lead to resistant bacterial populations taking up residence in the gut that persists for up to 4 years – maybe even longer.
As a result, researchers are urging prudence and restraint in the use of antibiotics in order to prevent treatment failure for patients that have resistant bacterial populations still residing in their intestines from previous courses of antibiotics.
What this means is that taking antibiotics today for an illness that is not life-threatening may, in fact, lead to a growth of superbugs in your gut that could actually threaten your life down the road and prevent antibiotics from working for you when you desperately need it.
Could Damage to Gut Flora Be Permanent?
Dr. Martin Blaser MD of New York University’s Langone Medical Center who writes in the August 2011 edition of Nature, has this to say about damage to gut flora from antibiotics:
Early evidence from my lab and others hints that, sometimes, our friendly flora never fully recover. These long-term changes to the beneficial bacteria within people’s bodies may even increase our susceptibility to infections and disease. Overuse of antibiotics could be fueling the dramatic increase in conditions such as obesity, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, which have more than doubled in many populations.
As evidence, Blaser goes on to say that infections with H. pylori, the bacterial cause of ulcers, has plummeted in recent years. H. pylori, as it turns out, is very susceptible to the same broad-spectrum antibiotics used to treat children’s ear infections and colds which are doled out without much thought at most pediatrician offices.
Shockingly, the majority of children routinely receive up to 20 courses of antibiotics before the age of 18. In addition, between one third and one-half of pregnant women receive antibiotics during pregnancy. The high C-section rate also negatively affects the composition of gut flora of these children. They completely miss out on exposure to Mom’s friendly bacteria as they travel through the birth canal.
This is a lot of antibiotic exposure for our younger generations and the implications for those children who don’t acquire H. pylori due to excessive antibiotics appear to be dramatic with a higher risk for both allergies and asthma. This may be the case even when attempts to repair the gut after a course is completed are followed.
Blaser’s research group has also observed that lack of H. pylori in the human body affects the production of ghrelin and leptin, 2 hormones that play a factor in weight gain.
Preservation of the MicroBiome
The composition of a person’s microbiome, not only in the gut but also on the skin and everywhere in the body, has huge implications for long term health. Altering this balance with antibiotics not only negatively affects the variety of bacterial species present but also promotes the retention of resistant bacteria in the gut for up to 4 years and perhaps far longer.
Preservation of your personal microbiome is critical and affects not only your health but the health of your children as parents bequeath their microbiome to their offspring.
Blaser observes that:
“Each generation … could be beginning life with a smaller endowment of ancient microbes than the last.”
If Dr. Blaser and the other researchers are correct, it seems that people need to guard their microbiome against the assault of antibiotics in the same manner that they protect their home and possessions with locks on the doors.
Bottom line?
If your illness is not life-threatening, skip the antibiotics even for something like strep which even WebMD admits will almost always resolve without drugs or complications. The risk to your future health is just too great otherwise.
Sources and More Information
Long-Term Impacts of Antibiotic Exposure on the Human Intestinal Microbiota
Short-term antibiotic treatment has differing long-term impacts on the human throat and gut microbiome
Stop the Killing of Beneficial Bacteria
Are Antibiotics Always Necessary for Strep Throat?
The 11 Best Natural Antibiotics and How to Use Them
How to Kick Strep Throat Faster and Better Without Antibiotics
So what about the babies who do come in via cesarean and Mother was given antibiotics? Is there hope in the slightest if followed by a life time commitment of fermented foods and traditional cooking? My son was born via cesarean 8 months ago and since we have been working on re-balancing our bodies. I hate to live in fear that we are forever doomed…
Keep doing what you are doing. With your diligence over the course of years you both will begin to reestablish NEW good flora. It won’t be identical to those you lost but you can’t cry over spilt milk. The new microbles will be a base to pass on to the next generation. Gotta start somewhere.
I would love to know your thoughts on this regimen for boils. My daughter’s kindergarten class had an outbreak of boils, likely spread in the class bathroom. Our whole family, in turn, got boils as well. Ou pediatrician did not want to give antibiotics (like the other kids were getting) since they rarely cross into a boil. His recommendations were to: add 1/4 cup of bleach to a bath (pool level of chlorine) and soak for 15 mins twice a week, use antibacterial in the shower instead of soap, bleach all washcloths and underwear, and not to reuse towels. He said MRSA doesn’t respond to bleach, so this would be much better than lancing the boils to test them. Ours cleared up faster than those on antibiotics. My OB/GYN winced at the bleach, but most aren’t fond of pool-levels of chlorine anyway.
Sarah – I thought H. Pylori was an unfavorable bacteria to have in the gut. As I read your post, it’s the first time I’ve read the opposite. Where can I get more information about H Pylori being favorable?
Also should one invest in probiotics or enzymes?
I have used Garlic oil many times along with homeopathic remedies for ear infections in my kids. I have 4 kids, my youngest two (because of what I learned since they were born) have never had antibiotics!! My older two boys have each only been on meds 2 times each and they are 7 and 9. I now know that they didn’t really need it, but nothing I can do about that now. I was on antibiotics several times a year as a child and my parents fed us crap food. It sucks, but you can’t control that. I just hope that someday my kids appreciate how they were brought up, foodwise and medicine wise and keep it going for themselves and their own families 🙂
How does one heal and repopulate the gut?
I wish that I didn’t have to take antibiotics. However I was born with cystic fibrosis. I’ve taken an oral antibiotic every day for most of my life. When I’m sick I get massive doses of 3 different IV antibiotics. I would love it if I didn’t need them, but unfortunately I do.
ACV is always on my list when we get sick and oregano oil, black cumin seeds, extra vit d, coconut oil.
For ear infection or cold 1 drop of peroxide in each ear. While lying on your side let it sit in each ear for about 5 mins then drain. It will reduce the duration of the illness
After reading the other comments, I realize I have more to say. I am 67 years old, but when I was a 24 year old young mother of three and they were having ear infections again and again…a friend suggested I see her pediatrician, a DO MD. Dr Viola Frymann changed our life, our diet and our health. My children did not have another cause for antibiotics while they were growing up because I changed the kinds of foods I bought and fed them. As they grew up and went out into the world, they started eating what everybody else was eating. They started to get colds and flu but their health has been very good and strong all their lives. I believe due to having such a good start with their diet.
Thank you for getting me on the right road to health…. You work here is greatly appreciated.