6th Grade · Science · Activity · shared by Luke Morgan
This 6th Grade Science activity investigates the human gut microbiome, exploring how antibiotics affect beneficial bacteria in the body.
The Internal Ecosystem: Antibiotics and the Microbiome
Your body is home to a massive community of microscopic organisms known as the microbiome . This community includes trillions of helpful bacteria that perform essential jobs, such as breaking down the food you eat and protecting your immune system from dangerous invaders. Having a wide variety, or diversity , of these bacteria is the key to staying healthy. When your gut has many different types of bacteria, it is much harder for harmful germs to find a place to grow and make you sick.
Sometimes, harmful bacteria do manage to cause an infection. To stop these germs, doctors use medicines called antibiotics . While these are life-saving tools, some types are "broad-spectrum" treatments. This means they are designed to kill many different kinds of bacteria at once rather than targeting just one specific germ. Because of this, the medicine cannot distinguish between the "bad" bacteria causing your illness and the "good" bacteria that belong in your body. As the medicine travels through your digestive system, it wipes out large numbers of both helpful and harmful organisms.
This process leads to a sudden drop in the diversity of your internal ecosystem . After the medicine has finished its job, your body must work to restore its natural balance. Without the protective "good" bacteria standing guard, the empty space in your gut can leave you vulnerable to new stomach problems. It often takes weeks or even months for the bacterial community to return to its original, healthy state.
Because broad-spectrum antibiotics affect so many beneficial microbes, scientists are currently working to design "targeted" antibiotics. These advanced medicines are engineered to recognize specific structures on the cell walls of harmful…