ArticlePloS one2014
Short-term effect of antibiotics on human gut microbiota.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 194 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
194 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effect of Plant-Based Diets on Gut Microbiota: A Systematic Review of Interventional Studies.Nutrients · 2023Pooled it
- Predicting cancer immunotherapy response from gut microbiomes using machine learning models.Oncotarget · 2022Pooled it
- The impact of pelvic radiotherapy on the gut microbiome and its role in radiation-induced diarrhoea: a systematic review.Radiation oncology (London, England) · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Bifidobacterium breve PRL2020 mitigates antibiotic-induced gut symptoms and dysbiosis in children treated with amoxicillin or amoxicillin-clavulanate.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2026Trial
- Alterations of human skin microbiome and expansion of antimicrobial resistance after systemic antibiotics.Science translational medicine · 2021Trial
- Environmental exposures and child and maternal gut microbiota in rural Malawi.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2020Trial
- Rifaximin is associated with modest, transient decreases in multiple taxa in the gut microbiota of patients with diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.Gut microbes · 2019Trial
- Efficacy and safety of a triple active sore throat lozenge in the treatment of patients with acute pharyngitis: Results of a multi-centre, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group trial (DoriPha).International journal of clinical practice · 2018Trial
- Implementation of an algorithm for selection of antimicrobial therapy for diarrhoeic calves: Impact on antimicrobial treatment rates, health and faecal microbiota.Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997) · 2017Trial
- Microbiome changes in healthy volunteers treated with GSK1322322, a novel antibiotic targeting bacterial peptide deformylase.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2015Trial
- Trial
- Antibiotic Class-Specific Effects on Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Microbiome Disruption, Risk, and Recovery.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Impact of co-amoxiclav versus amoxicillin on the gastrointestinal microbiota in sub-Saharan children hospitalized with pneumonia.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2026Article
- Composition and Diversity Characteristics of Gut Microbiota during the Development ofEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Plasma acetic acid mediates the relationship between gut microbiome and various health measures in older adults.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Identification and Evaluation of Benzimidazole- Agonists of Innate Immune Receptor NOD2.ACS infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Early-Life β-Lactam Exposure and the Developing Microbiome: Clinical Relevance and Controversies.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Presence of Dolosigranulum pigrum in the nasopharynx and its relationship with respiratory health status in paediatric population.PloS one · 2026Article
- Importance of human microbiome: an update.Frontiers in microbiomes · 2026Review
134 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
From birth onwards, the human gut microbiota rapidly increases in diversity and reaches an adult-like stage at three years of age. After this age, the composition may fluctuate in response to external factors such as antibiotics. Previous studies have shown that resilience is not complete months after cessation of the antibiotic intake. However, little is known about the short-term effects of antibiotic intake on the gut microbial community. Here we examined the load and composition of the fecal microbiota immediately after treatment in 21 patients, who received broad-spectrum antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones and β-lactams. A fecal sample was collected from all participants before treatment and one week after for microbial load and community composition analyses by quantitative PCR and pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, respectively. Fluoroquinolones and β-lactams significantly decreased microbial diversity by 25% and reduced the core phylogenetic microbiota from 29 to 12 taxa. However, at the phylum level, these antibiotics increased the Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio (p = 0.0007, FDR = 0.002). At the species level, our findings unexpectedly revealed that both antibiotic types increased the proportion of several unknown taxa belonging to the Bacteroides genus, a Gram-negative group of bacteria (p = 0.0003, FDR<0.016). Furthermore, the average microbial load was affected by the treatment. Indeed, the β-lactams increased it significantly by two-fold (p = 0.04). The maintenance of or possible increase detected in microbial load and the selection of Gram-negative over Gram-positive bacteria breaks the idea generally held about the effect of broad-spectrum antibiotics on gut microbiota.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.