Current events, apropos our discussion:

The most complete survey to date of bacterial diversity in the human
gut shows extensive but temporary changes in the microbial  community
following ciprofloxacin treatment.

The intestinal microbiota is essential to human health, with effects
on nutrition, metabolism, pathogen resistance, and other processes.
Antibiotics may disrupt these interactions and cause acute disease, as
well as contribute to chronic health problems.

We  tracked changes in the intestinal microbiota of three healthy
humans before and after treatment with the antibiotic ciprofloxacin,
with high sensitivity and resolution, and without sacrificing breadth
of coverage.

Ciprofloxacin reduced the diversity of the intestinal microbiota, with
significant effects on about one-third of the bacterial taxa. Despite
this pervasive disturbance, the membership of the communities had
largely returned to the pretreatment state within 4 weeks.
-- 
"The Pervasive Effects of an Antibiotic on the Human Gut Microbiota"
by Les Dethlefsen, et al
PLoS Biology Vol. 6, No. 11
Published November 18, 2008

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