Antibiotics and gut bacteria are like oil and water – they don’t mix. But, scientists appear to have found a solution.
Lolamicin, a new drug, kills bad bacteria without affecting healthy gut bacteria. Furthermore, in their study in mice, the antibiotic was found to have had a positive effect against multidrug-resistant bacterial strains.
According to Prof Hergenrother, who led the study alongside former doctoral student Kristen Munoz, “the house microbiome is a good tool for modelling human infections because human and mouse gut microbiomes are very similar.”
Common antibiotics have a complicated history with gut health. It’s been found to hurt the gut microbiome while increasing a patient’s vulnerability to further infections and other problems, including but not limited to gastrointestinal, kidney, and liver complications.
Simply put, common antibiotics kill good bacteria while treating infections.
However, it’s still too early to celebrate. While this is a positive sign compared to standard treatments like amoxicillin and clindamycin, the medication hasn’t gone to trial yet in people.
Further research is necessary before we can confidently say that there’s an antibiotic that kills bacteria while sparing good bacteria in the gut.
Nevertheless, in the next few years, we might just see this proof-of-concept become a reality.