Antibiotics & Infant Gut Bacteria

Guest: Anita Kozyrskyj, PhD, Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that women be screened for group B strep several weeks before their due dates. If they test positive—and 25% of all women do—they should receive antibiotics through an IV during labor, according to the CDC, to prevent the newborn from contracting group B strep from the mother.  But according to a recent study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, those antibiotics given during delivery may have unintended consequences and alter the bacteria in the infants’ gut.