[Consequences of antibiotic therapy to the intestinal ecosystem]

Abstract

Ecological impact of antibiotherapy results from the interaction between microorganisms in the ecosystems and antibiotics at which they are exposed. The amount of antibiotics use in the world is continuously increasing. The fraction devoted to human care is only about half the total amount. There are multiple other fields of usage, in agriculture, breeding and veterinary medicine. Bacterial ecosystems exposed at antibiotherapy in man are mainly the skin and the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. The gastrointestinal system is quantitatively predominant and the consequences of the bacterial imbalance induced by antibiotics are potentially severe. It is the reason why it is the most extensively studied, in the literature and in the present review. The origin of resistant bacteria will be briefly discussed.