Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Cefoperazone-treated Mouse Model of Clinically-relevant Clostridium difficile Strain R20291
Published on: December 10, 2016
Emerging Insights into Antibiotic-Associated Diarrhea and Clostridium difficile Infection through the Lens of
1Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Abstract:
Antibiotics are the main, and often only, clinical intervention for prophylactic and active treatment of bacterial infections in humans. Perhaps it is not surprising that these drugs also shift the composition of commensal bacteria inside our bodies, especially those within the gut microbial community (microbiota). How these dynamics ultimately affect the function of the gut microbiota, however, is not fully appreciated. Likewise, how antibiotic induced changes facilitate the outgrowth and pathogenicity of certain bacterial strains remains largely enigmatic. Here, we discuss the merits of a microbial ecology approach toward understanding a common side effect of antibiotic use, antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD), and the opportunistic bacterial infections that sometimes underlie it. As an example, we discuss how this approach is being used to address complex disease dynamics during Clostridium difficile infection.
More Related Videos
12:58A Protocol to Characterize the Morphological Changes of Clostridium difficile in Response to Antibiotic Treatment
Published on: May 25, 2017
09:49Investigation of Microbial Cooperation via Imaging Mass Spectrometry Analysis of Bacterial Colonies Grown on Agar and in Tissue During Infection
Published on: November 18, 2022
Related Concept Videos
Dysbiosis of the Gut Microbiota
Microbiota Modulation by Antibiotics
Introduction to the Human Microbiota
Microbiota of the Large Intestine
Drugs Affecting GI Tract Motility: Antimicrobials as Antidiarrheal Agents
Bacterial Gastroenteritis