The intake of antibiotics shortly after birth alters the intestinal bacterial flora: as a result, immunity from vaccines mitigates itself faster.
Infants who need take antibiotics show a Available attenuated to the first vaccines of childhood. This is suggested by a study published on Naturewhich identifies a possible cause in the alteration of the intestinal microbiota – and in particular in the lower concentration, in the intestines veterans from cure with antibiotics, of bifidobacteria.
Early care. A group of scientists from South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (Sahmri) of Adelaide followed 191 healthy babies and came to the world with natural birth. Among these, 111 had been exposed to antibiotics Shortly after birth, or during a direct treatment (the case of 32 babies) or indirectly, because their mothers had taken antibiotics during childbirth or in the post-parto period.
A precious guest. At the time of the first routine vaccination, 6 weeks of life, the researchers measured the concentrations, in the intestine of newborns, of a microorganism that lies in the colon and which has a beneficial role in the modulation of the immune defenses: the Bifidobacterium. Children who had been treated directly with antibiotics they housed it in lower quantitieswhile the intake of antibiotics indirectly, through body or breast milk, did not seem to influence significantly.
Attenuated effectiveness. This reduction seemed to be connected to another feature of infants with attention to antibiotics: the lower concentration of antibodies In response to Pneumococcal vaccine and that againstHaemophilus influenzae type B, A bacterium responsible for serious pneumonia and meningitis in children under 5 years. These lower levels of antibodies were found both at 7 months of age and at 15 months.
One more push. The bifidobacteria are particularly adapted to metabolizing the oligosaccarids (a type of carbohydrate) of breast milk, and are found in important quantities in the intestine of infants. These microorganisms seem provide extra help to the immune systempreparing it to respond better to pediatric vaccines.
Good to know (but don’t panic!). However, the authors of the study specify that infants are normally treated with antibiotics only in case of real need e When threatened by serious conditionsas infections that in this delicate phase could be lethal. In addition, the response to vaccines is only attenuated, and all babies at 7 months had however a sufficient amount of antibodies to protect them from infection.
The main difference is that the antibodies produced in response to the vaccine seem, over time, to demonstrate more quickly in infants treated with antibiotics.
Further studies will verify whether the intake of bifidobacteria -based probiotics can contrast this effect, in the children who must receive antibiotic therapies.
