Antibiotics might kill gut bacteria that protect newborn lungs

Exposure to antibiotics in the womb could permanently weaken the immune system and make lung disease more likely, research in mice suggests.

A study led by Hitesh Deshmukh, at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, Ohio, suggests that antibiotics can harm infant mice by killing important gut bacteria.

The team identified chemicals released by bacteria that tell a new pair of lungs when to build immune cells, how many to make, and when to use them. Temporarily disrupting gut bacteria was enough to make young mice more likely to contract pneumonia and die.

In the US and UK, antibiotics are given to women before undergoing a Caesarean section, to protect against infection with Streptococcus bacteria. But these drugs are indiscriminate, and act against a wide range of bacteria, both good and bad.

“It is time to begin pushing back on practices that were established decades ago, when our level of understanding was different,” says Deshmukh. “To prevent infection in one infant, we are exposing 200 infants to the unwanted effects of antibiotics.”

Excess antibiotic use early in life may help explain why some people with no obvious genetic risk factors develop asthma or other lung disease later in life, suggests Deshmukh.

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