Longevity & AgingCommon Non-Antibiotic Drugs Sabotage Gut Bacteria That Block Dangerous Infections
Researchers tested 1,197 FDA-approved non-antibiotic drugs and found that gut commensal bacteria are far more sensitive to these drugs than pathogenic Gammaproteobacteria. Using a high-throughput in vitro assay with defined 20-member microbial communities, they showed that 28% of 53 tested drugs promoted Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Tm) growth by suppressing commensals, disrupting microbial interactions, and freeing metabolic niches for pathogens. These effects extended to other enteropathogens including Shigella and Vibrio cholerae. Drugs that enhanced pathogen growth in vitro also increased intestinal S. Tm loads in mice. The antihistamine terfenadine accelerated disease onset and worsened inflammation in a mouse infection model, identifying non-antibiotic drugs as underappreciated risk factors for enteric infections.
