Mixed
Antibiotic administration, particularly broad-spectrum fluoroquinolones, disrupts the gut microbiome by reducing secondary bile acid-producing bacteria (e.g., C. scindens), which removes the inhibition on Clostridium difficile vegetative growth and leads to infection.
Be cautious with broad-spectrum antibiotics, especially fluoroquinolones, as they can wipe out the specific bacteria that produce secondary bile acids. These bile acids normally inhibit C. difficile. If you must take antibiotics, discuss probiotic or dietary strategies to support your gut microbiome afterward, as this disruption is a primary cause of post-antibiotic diarrhea and CDI.
Antibiotic administration perturbs the gut microbial communities and reduces their diversity, especially secondary bile acids-synthesizing dominant microbes such as C. scindens... As a result, there is a significant reduction in microbial bioconversion of primary bile acids into antimicrobial secondary bile acids, leading to reduced inhibition of C. difficile vegetative growth, allowing C difficile outgrowth and colonization of the empty niches, leading to higher susceptibility of the host toward CDI
Why this rating
Well-supported by mechanistic studies cited (Sorg, Sonenshein, Antonopoulos, Theriot).
Source
The Human Gut Microbiome – A Potential Controller of Wellness and Disease
Zhi Y. Kho et al. · Frontiers in Microbiology · 2018
DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01835
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