在8月25日出版的《Nature》杂志上，NYU Langone医疗中心医学系主任、微生物学教授、主任医师Martin Blaser博士说，在消除危险细菌的热情中，我们有可能也永久地杀死有益的细菌。
Blaser博士向医学界和广大民众敲响了警钟，抗生素的广泛使用可能会导致意想不到的后果，导致人体中保护性的、有益的菌群的永久性的变化，并引起对人体天然防御系统的损害。这对于健康的影响可能比耐药性“超级病菌”更危险。“超级病菌”在过去几年获得许多关注。
在美国或其他发达国家，当一个儿童年满18岁的时候，他/她已经平均接受了10-20剂的抗生素。这些都是当妇女怀孕时可能给予她们的抗生素之外的，这可能会影响由母亲传递给孩子的正常细菌。
抗生素的发现和使用有助于增加寿命。然而，它们是不具有辨别力的，即可破坏对人体有益的细菌，而不是仅仅破坏有害的细菌。科学家们已经发现一些有益的细菌可能永远无法恢复，这些细菌的消除可能会导致传染易感性增加。因此，使用抗生素可导致肥胖、过敏和哮喘、炎症性肠道疾病和1型糖尿病的增加，这在整个发达世界中正在发生。
Blaser博士敦促医生立即减少这些药物的使用，并建议窄谱的和更具针对性的药物应用于他们的工作中。要取得成功，这种转变将需要大量的努力来开发新的抗菌药和新的诊断测试，这将允许使用靶向药物。
Blaser博士说，我相信，未来的医生将对幼儿正常菌群中的“丢失”细菌进行替代治疗，以减少这些重要的慢性疾病发展的风险。
生物探索推荐英文原文：
Eradicating Dangerous Bacteria May Cause Permanent Harm
In the zeal to eliminate dangerous bacteria, it is possible that we are also permanently killing off beneficial bacteria as well, posits Martin Blaser, MD, Frederick H. King Professor of Medicine, professor of Microbiology and chair of the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center.
His commentary is published in the August 25 edition of the journal Nature.
Dr. Blaser sounded the alarm to the medical community and to the general public, that the widespread use of antibiotics may be having unintended consequences causing permanent changes in the body's protective, friendly flora and causing harm to the body's natural defense system. This may be even more dangerous to health than the creation of resistant "superbugs," which have garnered much attention over the last few years.
By the time a child in the US or other developed countries reaches the age of 18, s/he has already had on average 10-20 doses of antibiotics. These are in addition to the antibiotics that may be given to women while they are pregnant, and which may affect the normal bacteria that mothers transmit to their children.
The discovery and use of antibiotics has helped to increase life expectancy. However they are non-discriminatory and destroy even friendly bacteria, not just harmful ones. Scientists have found that some of the beneficial bacteria may never recover and that these extinctions may lead to increased susceptibility to infections and disease. As a result, antibiotic use could be contributing to the increases in obesity, allergies and asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and type 1 diabetes that are occurring throughout the developed world.
Dr. Blaser urges physicians to curtail the use of these drugs immediately, and recommends that narrow spectrum, and more targeted drugs be used in their place. To be successful, this shift will require a significant effort to develop new antibacterials and new diagnostic tests that will permit the use of targeted agents.
"I believe that doctors of the future will be replacing "lost" members of our normal flora in young children to diminish the risk of development of these important and chronic diseases," said Dr. Blaser.
