Role of antibacterial in ulcerative colitis

[Tanisha]

Hi, my aunt is 56 years old. She is both diabetic and hypertensive. Daily she needs to take medicines. Recently she has been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. The doctor has prescribed her some antibiotics. I would like to understand the role of antibiotics in treating ulcerative colitis. Are they at all effective?

[Vatan]

@Tanisha a Potentially, although controlled evidence for their use is sparse and more study is needed. Patients with pouchitis (which may occur following some surgical procedures for ulcerative colitis) may have significant clinical improvement following the use of metronidazole. Ciprofloxacin is also useful for pouchitis, and concurrent use with metronidazole appears to be superior to either antibacterial alone. Ciprofloxacin alone may also be of potential use for disease control in ulcerative colitis, but data in the absence of other standard treatments are lacking. Antibacterials tend to be of more use in Crohn’s disease.