Necrotizing Enterocolitis

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an inflammatory disease affecting premature infants. Intestinal microbial composition may play a key role in determining which infants are predisposed to NEC and when infants are at highest risk of developing NEC. It is unclear how to optimize antibiotic therapy in preterm infants to prevent NEC and how to optimize antibiotic regimens to treat neonates with NEC. This article discusses risk factors for NEC, how dysbiosis in preterm infants plays a role in the pathogenesis of NEC, and how probiotic and antibiotic therapy may be used to prevent and/or treat NEC and its sequelae.