Short-term antibiotic use linked to long-lasting resistance in gut bacteria
Stanford University researchers report that ciprofloxacin use drives persistent antibiotic resistance in human gut bacteria, with resistance emerging independently across diverse species and enduring for over 10 weeks.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health concern linked to millions of deaths each year. It is widely driven by excessive and inappropriate antibiotic use. Past efforts to study AMR have largely relied on in vitro experiments and animal models, which fall short in replicating the full complexity of human microbial environments.
Based on the results, even short-term antibiotic use can lead to resistance mutations that persist in the human gut for months after treatment ends.
Mutations arise independently across bacterial species and do not incur a measurable fitness cost, allowing resistant strains to remain prevalent./Nature
