Antibiotic Administration in Early Infancy May Impair Vaccine Effectiveness: New Research

New Delhi, April 5 (NationPress) Babies administered with antibiotics during their initial weeks are more prone to exhibit diminished immune responses to vital childhood vaccines, as per a recent study.

Researchers from Flinders University in Australia indicated that this phenomenon is linked to a reduction in levels of Bifidobacterium, a beneficial bacterial species residing in the human gut.

Conversely, the study, published in the journal Nature, showed that replenishing Bifidobacterium within the gut microbiome via probiotic supplements like Infloran yielded encouraging outcomes in restoring immune responses.

“Our findings suggest that interventions targeting the microbiota may alleviate the adverse effects of early-life antibiotic exposure on vaccine immunogenicity,” stated David J. Lynn from the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute.

The research tracked 191 healthy infants born vaginally from birth until they were 15 months old. Among them, 86 percent received the hepatitis B vaccine at birth and commenced their routine childhood vaccinations by six weeks of age.

Analysis of blood and stool samples revealed that infants exposed to antibiotics during the neonatal period had significantly lower levels of antibodies against several polysaccharides present in the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13).

The PCV13 vaccine is designed to enhance the immune system's ability to combat Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacterium responsible for severe illnesses such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and meningitis.

This vaccine generates antibodies by linking polysaccharide capsule layers to proteins.

Exposure to neonatal antibiotics was found to diminish antibody production against these polysaccharides, thereby weakening the immune response.

Experiments conducted on germ-free mice indicated that the reduced immune response correlated with a decline in Bifidobacterium levels in the gut microbiome.

However, administering a combination of Bifidobacterium species or Infloran effectively countered the adverse effects of antibiotics and restored immune response to PCV13.

“Our findings, which build upon several significant prior studies, suggest that immune responses to certain vaccine types, particularly protein-polysaccharide conjugate vaccines like PCV13, may heavily rely on signals from the gut microbiota,” the researchers concluded. “Providing probiotics to infants who have been exposed to neonatal antibiotics could serve as a practical, economical, and safe approach to enhance vaccination responses,” they added.