An analysis of the bacterial colonies from the stomachs of premature babies has shown that the infants are extremely vulnerable to colonization by "bad" bacteria, and that resistance overall is getting worse.
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis sequenced the bacterial DNA from the stomachs of 84 premature infants and found almost 800 genes that enable antibiotic resistance, 80 percent of which had not been previously associated with antibiotic resistance. Additionally, the microbes in the infants' guts were pathogenic, some being related to bacteria associated with hospital-acquired infections.
"Our study demonstrates that even well-studied bacteria — the ones that we know cause disease or their close relatives — have many genes associated with antibiotic resistance that have not been characterized before," Gautam Dantas, PhD, associate professor of pathology and immunology at WUSTL and senior author of the study, said in a statement. "Premature babies do not always get bacterial infections that need treatment, but we have known for a long time that they are at higher risk for infection than babies born full term. Now, we know that preterm-infant guts are attracting exactly the wrong kinds of bacteria."
Dr. Dantas also said that the increase in resistance demonstrated by the study is a consequence of the historic use of antibiotics, suggesting the use of long treatment courses of broad-spectrum antibiotics are encouraging bacteria to concentrate their resistance genes. The researchers also concluded that treatment with one antibiotic can impact how bacteria react to other strains of antibiotic as well.