Microbiote intestinal et antibiothérapie périnatale

The microbiote constitute a complex ecosystem. Its establishment in the first weeks of the life seems to constitute a critical period of “programming” of the immune system. Any disturbance in the initial process of colonization by the microbiote could impact long-term health and be implicated in several pathologies as obesity, diabetes, inflammatory pathologies of the digestive tract or allergies, with an increased prevalence observed during the past decades. The hygienist hypothesis on one hand (Starchan) and the programming hypothesis of on the other hand (Barker) constitute plausible explanations to the epidemiological associations reported recently between the premature exposure to antibiotic treatment and allergic diseases. Clinicians must be strongly and quickly awarded towards these deleterious effects of antibiotic treatments, which do not concern any more only the emergence of resistant mutations and the change of the bacterial ecology, but also “not infectious” pathologies even more worrisome.