An antibiotic with no side effects could be on the horizon. Scientists say they have identified compounds that reduce the risk of nausea, indigestion, bloating and diarrhoea.
It opens the door to an antidote that saves certain microbes - without interfering with the drugs' destruction of harmful bugs. Antibiotics wipe out gut bacteria both good and bad - which can have long lasting health consequences.
The findings are based on an analysis of the effects of 144 different antibiotics on the microbiome - trillions of bacteria that live in our intestines. They boost digestion, provide nutrients and metabolites and work with the immune system to fend off illness.
