Abstract
In recent years, the indiscriminate use of antibiotics has been perpetrated across human medicine, animals destined for zootechnical productions and companion animals. Apart from increasing the resistance rate of numerous microorganisms and generating multi-drug resistance (MDR), the nonrational administration of antibiotics causes sudden changes in the structure of the intestinal microbiota such as dysbiotic phenomena that can have a great clinical significance for both humans and animals. The aim of this review is to describe the state-of-the-art of alternative therapies to the use of antibiotics and their effectiveness in humans and monogastric animals (poultry, pigs, fish, rabbits, dogs and cats). In particular, those molecules (probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics) which have a direct function on the gastrointestinal health are herein critically analysed in the prevention or treatment of gastrointestinal diseases or dysbiosis induced by the consumption of antibiotics.
Highlights
The second half of the 20th century discovered the novel use of antibiotics as growth promoters for food in the human diet, while the 21st century saw onset and rapid increase in advanced microbial antibiotics [1]
Thanks to next-generation sequencing (NGS) of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (16s rRNA), it has been confirmed that Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes are the most abundant taxa in the intestinal microbiota of healthy adults [21,22], with approximately 500–1000 bacterial species belonging to Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Eubacterium, Clostridium, Peptococcus, Peptostreptococcus, Lactobacillus and Ruminococcus [23]
A previous review suggested that the protective effects of probiotics as adjunct therapy may be used in the prevention of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea in outpatients of all ages, with probiotic intervention being capable of reducing its onset by 51% without any apparent side effects [99]
Summary
The second half of the 20th century discovered the novel use of antibiotics as growth promoters for food in the human diet, while the 21st century saw onset and rapid increase in advanced microbial antibiotics [1]. Animals 2020, 10, 2199 rational administration of antimicrobial agents in human medicine, with a series of specific measures aimed at curbing antimicrobial resistance spread. In recent years, the European community has invested hundreds of millions of euros in funding research in antimicrobial resistance study, confirming its medical and social relevance. Based on these considerations, the search for new antimicrobial remedies is of vital importance. The aim of this work is to describe the state-of-the-art regarding possible alternative therapeutic strategies to the use of antibiotics in humans and monogastric animals and their impact on intestinal microbial ecology
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