Taking low doses of antibiotics to prevent recurring bladder infections could make the illness worse than taking no antibiotic at all.
Lee Goneau of the University of Toronto in Canada and his colleagues studied mice previously infected with urinary tract bacteria, and treated the animals with low doses of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin. In mice that had cleared their infections before receiving the drug, 80% became reinfected. Another group of mice with a low level of infection had more bacteria in their urine after taking the antibiotics.
The antibiotic caused the bacteria to produce proteins that let them stick to bladder and kidney cells, making it easier for the pathogens to colonize these tissues.
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Downsides of low-dose antibiotics. Nature 520, 267 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/520267c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/520267c
