Final answer:
Broad-spectrum drugs often cause superinfections by disrupting beneficial microbiota, allowing resistant pathogens like C. difficile to cause secondary infections, which can be severe.
Step-by-step explanation:
Broad-spectrum drugs that disrupt the body's microbiota often cause superinfections. The risk associated with using broad-spectrum antimicrobials is their potential to target not only harmful pathogens but also the beneficial normal microbiota in our bodies. This disruption can increase the risk of a superinfection, which is a secondary infection that occurs when the drug kills the protective microbiota, allowing another pathogen that is resistant to the drug to proliferate and cause an infection. Common examples include yeast infections like candidiasis and pseudomembranous colitis caused by Clostridium difficile, which can sometimes be fatal.
One of the more severe impacts of this disruption is the overgrowth of C. difficile following the loss of normal gut bacteria due to antibiotic use, leading to severe gastric problems and chronic diarrhea. Fecal transplants from healthy donors have been shown to successfully treat C. difficile by reestablishing the normal intestinal microbial community. It is important to use antibiotics responsibly and only when necessary to avoid these complications and the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.