Gut Microbiome of Elderly Adults with Advanced Dementia

The issue of antimicrobial resistance continues to grow worldwide, and long-term care facilities are significant reservoirs of antimicrobial-resistant organisms, in part due to high frequency of antimicrobial use. Patients with advanced dementia are particularly vulnerable to multidrug-resistant organism acquisition and antimicrobial overuse, which has negative consequences for the gut microbiome and can contribute to the selection and propagation of antimicrobial resistance genes. In this study, we examined the impacts of the fluoroquinolone antimicrobial levofloxacin on the gut microbiome of advanced dementia patients and the correlation between abundance of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance genes.