If a human takes antibiotics are all bacteria in the body killed?

Question

From my basic understanding, antibiotics kill living things, bacteria for example. Do the antibiotics consumed by a human-being distinguish between what they kill? Or do they just kill every bacteria they find? And if that's the case, which bacteria do antibiotics find or do they find all bacteria in a human's body? Again, if that is the case, does that mean that after taking antibiotics for a certain time that the human body is free of all bacteria?

Answer 1

No they are not.

Each antibiotic acts to sabotage a specific metabolic process. One scientists have carefully selected to be something the bacteria they want to kill need and you do not. Some antibiotics merely keep the bacteria from growing (static) while others kill them (cidal). It's not really a case of them "deciding", it a case of this is poisonous to them and not to you and most of the other bacteria in your body.

As far as science is aware, there is no process we can sabotage that all bacteria share that we do not also share. So anything that would kill them all would kill you too. Much more likely, it would kill a lot of the bacteria and you, and some of them would live on.

It is estimated that about 10% of a person's body weight is made up of cells that are not human, Most of these are friendly symbiotes that have evolved to live alongside long us. The most prominent examples are those that make their homes in out gastrointestinal tracts. Chowing down on foods and compounds we can't digest. One of the reasons antibiotics can cause GI side effects is that they can kill off some of those

friendly ones. Te actions and benefits of others, such as those on your skin and in other area, are less well understood.

I doubt a person could survive without the suite of little bacteria helpers, and know they would be pretty miserable shape as far as trying to eat anything,