Antibiotic prescriptions in infants may impact the effectiveness of important vaccinations

Findings from a South Australian-led study on antibiotic use and the effectiveness of vaccinations could have significant implications for vaccination programs globally.

Researchers from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in Adelaide have discovered in preclinical animal models that antibiotic exposure in infants could impair their responses to five important, routine vaccinations.

The team, that also included members from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Australia and Flinders University, have established a clinical study at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia, to identify whether this phenomenon also occurs in human infants.

The clinical study will also explore how the healthy gut biome influences the effectiveness of vaccination.

Lead researcher, Associate Professor David Lynn, EMBL Australia Group Leader, Infection and Immunity at SAHMRI and Associate Professor, College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University, said the study found that antibiotics change the way a baby becomes immune.

“We have showed that the bacteria in the gut (microbiome) are important in shaping the strength of the infant immune system. It appears that antibiotics in the first year of life change the ...

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