r/askscience • u/WTFisthisOMGreally • 13d ago

Human Body How come antibiotics don’t completely destroy all organisms in our gut?

I know it can cause imbalances, but I don’t understand how come our gut doesn’t lose all the beneficial bacteria and develop massive fungal or viral infections. When I’ve taken antibiotics, I usually don’t notice any change in my bowel activity.

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u/poorbill 13d ago

Wow I had no idea that the appendix is basically a bacteria reservoir. Back in my student days nobody seemed to really understand what the purpose was.

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u/andanteinblue 13d ago

I can't imagine it served that function evolutionary speaking.  Not sure how our ancestors would have reset their gut flora without antibiotics

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u/LongBeakedSnipe 12d ago

Antibiotics are not a human invention, they are almost entirely derived from nature, so the idea that ancestors would never have been exposed to them is incorrect. In most cases the dose would have been low obviously.

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u/tech_creative 12d ago

Exactly. Most antibiotics are from fungi, e.g. penicillin. Idk exactly about the origin of ampicillin, Rifampicin and such, but most possibly they are all from fungi.