ArticleGut microbes2026
The potential immunological mechanisms of gut microbiota dysbiosis caused by antibiotics exacerbate the lethality of influenza viruses.
Article in Gut microbes, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The gut-lung axis and viral pneumonia: Unrevealing the gut microbiota.Pharmaceutical science advances · 2026Review
- Article
- Microbiota-Immune Crosstalk in Pneumonia and Acute Lung Injury: Mechanisms, Evidence, and Therapeutic Opportunities.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Gut Microbiota and Probiotics in Influenza: A Narrative Review of Mechanisms and Emerging Evidence.Viruses · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAntibiotics are not recommended to treat influenza A virus (IAV). However, antibiotic misuse for IAV persists worldwide. How to scientifically use antibiotics for IAV-infected patients remains a considerable challenge.
resultsHere, we investigated the impact of antibiotics on viral pathogenicity, pulmonary-intestinal antiviral immunity, and antiviral drug efficacy. Our findings indicated that antibiotic intervention exacerbated IAV-caused mortality and lung injury in mice, manifested as increased mortality rates, shortened survival time, aggravated pulmonary injury, and excessive inflammatory responses. Furthermore, antibiotic pretreatment significantly diminished the efficacy of antivirals. Metagenomic sequencing revealed that antibiotics reduced the diversity and abundance of beneficial gut microbiota, including
conclusionsPulmonary-intestinal immune homeostasis imbalance caused by antibiotic misuse can not only markedly exacerbate the lethality of IAV, but also significantly attenuate the efficacy of antiviral drugs. A mechanistic study confirmed that gut microbes dysbiosis caused by antibiotic pretreatment exacerbates the homeostasis imbalance of host antiviral immunity by blocking the RIG/MDA5/IPS-1 antiviral signaling pathway. However, combination therapy with antibiotics and antivirals effectively reversed the fatal outcome exacerbated by antibiotic pretreatment. Collectively, our findings not only provide a scientific explanation from the perspective of antiviral immunity as to why antibiotics should not be arbitrarily used to treat viral infections but also lay the scientific foundation for the rational clinical use of antivirals and antibiotics for treating influenza.
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