The effect of probiotic supplementation on the gut microbiota and antibiotic resistome development in preterm infants. PINGU

Probiotic supplementation was introduced as standard of care to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in extremely preterm infants in Norway. We aimed to evaluate the influence of probiotics and antibiotic therapy on the developing gut microbiota and antibiotic resistome in extremely preterm infants, and to compare with very preterm infants and term infants not given probiotics. Random shotgun metagenomic analysis was performed on the DNA isolated from the fecal samples. Our findings shows that probiotic supplementation may induce colonization resistance and alleviate harmful effects of antibiotics on the gut microbiota and antibiotic resistome