Antibiotics can lead to fungal infection because of disruption to the gut's immune system:
Using immune-boosting drugs alongside the antibiotics could reduce the health risks from these complex infections say the researchers.
The life-threatening fungal infection invasive candidiasis is a major complication for hospitalised patients who are given antibiotics to prevent sepsis and other bacterial infections that spread quickly around hospitals (such as C. diff). Fungal infections can be more difficult to treat than bacterial infections, but the underlying factors causing these infections are not well understood.
A team in the University's Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, in conjunction with researchers at the National Institutes of Health, discovered that antibiotics disrupt the immune system in the intestines, meaning that fungal infections were poorly controlled in that area. Unexpectedly, the team also found that where fungal infections developed, gut bacteria were also able to escape, leading to the additional risk of bacterial infection.
Journal Reference:
Rebecca A. Drummond et al., Long-term antibiotic exposure promotes mortality after systemic fungal infection by driving lymphocyte dysfunction and systemic escape of commensal bacteria, Cell Host & Microbe, 2022
DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.04.013
(Score: 5, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday May 16 2022, @05:30AM (6 children)
This could be anything from "killing a lot of bacteria leaves more noms for the fungi" to "oops, shit, turns out the bacteria were directly creating an inhospitable environment in the gut."
I am not going to lie: systemic candida infections *terrify* me. Fungi are closer to animals than plants or bacteria, and many of them are becoming resistant to our usual go-to pharmacological weapons, the azole antifungals and the echinocandins. That leaves last-line agents like amphotericin-B, which gets nicknamed "amphoterrible" and "amphoterrorist" for VERY good reasons. If and when anything ever mutates resistance against amphotericin-B, we are *screwed.* My opinion on the matter is that this is as urgent a problem as antibacterial resistance itself.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Monday May 16 2022, @07:15AM
There is hope [nih.gov], but it looks like that'll still take a long time.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday May 16 2022, @02:19PM
Wouldn't recommend playing Plague Inc. then, it could provoke nightmares.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 17 2022, @04:09AM (3 children)
The article goes into a bit more detail. Exposure to vancomycin for weeks lead to a decrease in Th17 cells in vivo, which lead to invasive bacterial and C. albicans coinfection. Thankfully C. albicans isn't as bad as the C. auris you are probably thinking of. Thankfully, most of the Candida are more limited in acquiring resistance, but it is still a concern so the scientists and research has not stood still. While your use of the term "amphoterrorist" is a new one for me, Shake & Bake is notorious for its side effects. Hopefully it can stay as a last resort when one of the new drugs gets out there. Some of them work insanely well. We had a candidiasis patient enroll in a trial and in less than two weeks we went from discussing the possibility of palliative care to the need for PT once they were discharged. Of course it wouldn't necessarily work that well for everyone but it was definitely in its own class compared to what we were using before it. The drug side effects were much more tolerable than many of the other choices as well. I guess what I am saying is that there are some terrible things out there and even worse possibilities, but thankfully they are still rare and science marches on to come up with better ways to fight them.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 17 2022, @05:46AM
A science that is coming increasingly under attack from political extremists of all persuasions...
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday May 17 2022, @03:42PM (1 child)
That is really good news re: the new antifungal. Do you know if it's a new class of drug, or just a new echinocandin or azole?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 18 2022, @02:19AM
I was blinded and, officially, I don't know if the patient even got a new drug, some experimental cocktail, or a placebo. However, the results make me think it wasn't the placebo and the speed of recovery contrasted against side effects makes me think it wasn't a cocktail. The IDs would be the ones to ask those questions to get real answers but I am hesitant to do so because answering your question could accidentally end up revealing my identity. You can check the various journals or trial registrations if you'd like. One thing you'd see is that there are actually a number of antifungals in trials now, both more targeted versions of old drugs and completely novel classes. I could ask an ID for a number of new drugs on the horizon, if you'd be interested, so you can see the state of the art.
(Score: 2) by Frosty Piss on Monday May 16 2022, @08:40AM
It has *LONG* been known that the overuse of antibiotics can effect the immune system in negative ways.
(Score: 2, Funny) by anubi on Monday May 16 2022, @11:13AM (7 children)
Oral antibiotics...
I took some a few years ago.
I am extremely reticent to ever do that again.
It seemed it was about a year to re-establish order down there. All the animals down there were really upset. Nothing was coming out right.
I was almost to the point of eating someone else's shit just to get my own guts working again.
https://html.duckduckgo.com/html?q=fecal%20transplant [duckduckgo.com]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 4, Funny) by HiThere on Monday May 16 2022, @01:26PM (3 children)
If you want the right result, you don't eat it, you inject it into the other end. It's still a bit chancy, though.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16 2022, @03:35PM (1 child)
Wrong. They have "crap pills" now. Eat some and they dissolve sufficiently to hit the gut.
Sounds likely amiright
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Monday May 16 2022, @08:45PM
A quick search didn't turn up the thing you're referring to, except in ONE article in a news source I never heard of (but sure didn't sound medical) that was around a decade ago. Of course there are things like meta-mucil pills that could legitimately be called "crap pills", but that's a very different meaning.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday May 16 2022, @04:59PM
I saw what you did there. :-)
"It is easier to fool someone than it is to convince them that they have been fooled" Mark Twain
(Score: 5, Insightful) by pkrasimirov on Monday May 16 2022, @01:40PM
There are also probiotics, you know? Exactly intended to restore the world down there. My doc always prescribes them with any antibiotics for me, and vitamins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Monday May 16 2022, @02:22PM (1 child)
As someone else mentioned, probiotics are a thing.
In the event that your doctor says nothing about eating Yogurt or taking probiotics when giving you antibiotics. Get a new Doctor. You don't need a run of the mill pill pusher.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 4, Interesting) by liar on Monday May 16 2022, @03:40PM
I spend half my year in sunny Mexico, and whenever I feel a bit dodgy I have a couple of cups of unsweetened, unflavored Yogurt (which I also use on my baked potato instead of sour cream). Sometimes I mix in a bit of brown sugar or honey (not for the potato *8'( ) for the stomach balancing. Works for me.
Noli nothis permittere te terere.