Increasing evidence accumulates for a role of environmental factors in the onset of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Among them, factors that might disturb the gut microflora hold an important place. As such, antibiotics deserve a special attention, and a possible association between their use, particularly during childhood, and the development of IBD, has been assessed by several authors since 1987. Results, conclusions, and possible impact of their observations, as well as perspectives for the future, are discussed here, in view of the article published in this issue of the Journal by Shaw et al.