Dr. Alejandro Palacios,  PhD

Fighting antibiotic associated diarrhoea and antibiotic resistance. After nearly seven decades of use, antibiotics are in a well acknowledged crisis because of the development of antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotics are one of the most prescribed drugs in the world.  Their extensive use and, more importantly, their improper use, together with the reduced number of new antibiotics in the pharmaceutical drug development pipeline, in particular those with new modes of action, are making the battle against bacterial diseases harder to win. Even though antibiotics are very effective in the treatment of many different bacterial diseases, sometimes their remarkable antibacterial power and broad target specificity can cause adverse effects like diarrhoea and oral and vaginal yeast infections. Diarrhoea is a common side effect of antibiotic treatment that, in addition to being distressing and unpleasant, can lead to dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and hypotension, which, in some cases, can be life-threatening.

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