Clinical journals and the media these days are full of reports describing bacterial strains that are resistant to our most powerful antibiotics. Most of this information has focused on the problem of bacterial resistance, but it is only part of the story. Physician Martin J. Blaser, who directs the Human Microbiome Program at New York University, takes a distinctly different approach. For years, his lab has been studying the effects of antibiotic treatment on mice. This work hints at another, less obvious but potentially just as serious consequence of the unfettered application of antibiotics which is covered in his recent book, Missing Microbes. (1)
