Aims: Azithromycin (AZM) was used during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite a lack of evidence of its effectiveness against the coronavirus.Excessive use of this macrolide might be associated with the demodulation of gut microbial diversity.This study mainly focuses on the effect of this drug on the gut microbial composition and its resistance to other broad-spectrum antibiotics.Methodology and results: Ten male albino rats were divided into two groups: control and treated.Rats of the treated group received Azithromycin orally at a dose of 33 mg/kg/day for 14 consecutive days.Aerobic or facultatively anaerobic, Gram-positive bacteria were isolated from faecal and small intestinal samples of each rat of both groups.Then their biochemical profiling and probable nomenclature were done.Antimicrobial resistance and inhibitory zone of isolated strains were measured by the antibiotic disc diffusion method.Staphylococcus sp. was found to have increased in the treated groups compared to the control.Bacillus sp., Lactobacillus sp. and Enterococcus sp. were found to decrease after AZM exposure.A significant decrease in the inhibitory zone was found in the isolates of AZM-treated rats. Conclusion, significance and impact of study:In conclusion, it can be stated that AZM might be associated with the demodulation of gut bacteria and the increasing antibiotic resistance of those bacteria.Future preventive actions should be taken against these types of risks.
Mukhopadhyay et al. (Sun,) studied this question.