Short course of antibiotics causes less resistance in bacteria

A team of scientists led by Miranda Pettigrew, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health

healthcare, conducted a study of the effect of beta-lactam antibiotics (penicillins, cephalosporins and others) on the development of resistance in bacteria.

For the study, 171 children agedfrom six months to six years with community-acquired pneumonia. The children were randomly assigned to two groups receiving different treatments. Half of the children were prescribed a five-day course of antibiotics, and the second group was treated with the same drug, but for 10 days. The results showed the same efficacy of therapy in both groups.

Additionally, epidemiologists have studied howthe duration of treatment influenced the formation of resistance in bacteria. Scientists conducted metagenomic DNA sequencing of throat swabs and stool samples of children. To assess the changes, biomaterial sampling was carried out twice: immediately after diagnosis and a few weeks after recovery.

Sequencing showed that children who underwenta short course of treatment, smears had fewer resistance genes than in the second group. At the same time, as scientists note, with long-term therapy in the microbiome, the resistance of bacteria increased not only to beta-lactam, which was used to treat children, but also to other antibiotics.

“This means that you can formresistance to more than just the drug you're taking, Pettigrew notes. “Antibiotics don't just target the pathogens we're trying to treat. They can affect the microbiota in general.”

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is seriousproblem faced by the whole world. It leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of the methods of treatment used and can affect the time of hospitalization and increase mortality.

Hightek previously wrote that scientists from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington found that antibiotic resistance has become the leading cause of death in the world.

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