The Effect of Ciprofloxacin on Colon Bacterial Flora
Nearly all prostatitis patients are at first treated with oral antibiotics, such as ciprofloxacin. What does this medication do to the bacteria in the intestines?
Using healthy volunteers, investigators have now characterized the individual variations in the complex bacterial eco-systems of the colon, the large intestine. They looked at these variations over 10 months and in response to two 5-day courses of ciprofloxacin (Cipro), one of the fluoroquinolone antibiotics.
During periods of no antibiotic exposure, there was some variability in bacterial makeup but it generally tended to a mean. However, upon antibiotic administration there was a rapid and deep decrease of bacterial diversity, generally within 3-4 days.
Generally within a week of antibiotic cessation, bacterial compositions returned to the pre-treatment state, although this shift back was not always full and complete. In all three volunteers, the composition of the bacteria was stable by the end of the trial period. However, it was also different from how it was at baseline.
Many prostatitis patients trace their co-existing symptoms to antibiotic use. Among the complaints specifically tied by them to antibiotics are diarrhea, nausea, "irritable bowels," loss of balance (ototoxicity), and muscle pain (perhaps a form of tendonitis). To them, none of these findings would seem a revelation.
From a research perspective, the study is novel in that it lays out the time course and recovery from ciprofloxacin in healthy volunteers. This kind of information may be useful in developing strategies to counteract the negative effects of oral antibiotics such that they may be better tolerated. Among the proposed remedies that may with further research be guided by such data is the concurrent use of supplements and yogurts that would include such probiotic organisms as Lactobacillus acidophilus.
Using healthy volunteers, investigators have now characterized the individual variations in the complex bacterial eco-systems of the colon, the large intestine. They looked at these variations over 10 months and in response to two 5-day courses of ciprofloxacin (Cipro), one of the fluoroquinolone antibiotics.
During periods of no antibiotic exposure, there was some variability in bacterial makeup but it generally tended to a mean. However, upon antibiotic administration there was a rapid and deep decrease of bacterial diversity, generally within 3-4 days.
Generally within a week of antibiotic cessation, bacterial compositions returned to the pre-treatment state, although this shift back was not always full and complete. In all three volunteers, the composition of the bacteria was stable by the end of the trial period. However, it was also different from how it was at baseline.
Many prostatitis patients trace their co-existing symptoms to antibiotic use. Among the complaints specifically tied by them to antibiotics are diarrhea, nausea, "irritable bowels," loss of balance (ototoxicity), and muscle pain (perhaps a form of tendonitis). To them, none of these findings would seem a revelation.
From a research perspective, the study is novel in that it lays out the time course and recovery from ciprofloxacin in healthy volunteers. This kind of information may be useful in developing strategies to counteract the negative effects of oral antibiotics such that they may be better tolerated. Among the proposed remedies that may with further research be guided by such data is the concurrent use of supplements and yogurts that would include such probiotic organisms as Lactobacillus acidophilus.
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