Upper airways microbiota in antibiotic-naïve wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural Ecuador.

<h4>Background</h4>Observations that the airway microbiome is disturbed in asthma may be confounded by the widespread use of antibiotics and inhaled steroids. We have therefore examined the oropharyngeal microbiome in early onset wheezing infants from a rural area of tropical Ecuador whe...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paul Andres Cardenas, Philip J Cooper, Michael J Cox, Martha Chico, Carlos Arias, Miriam F Moffatt, William Osmond Cookson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0046803&type=printable
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850137360106258432
author Paul Andres Cardenas
Philip J Cooper
Michael J Cox
Martha Chico
Carlos Arias
Miriam F Moffatt
William Osmond Cookson
author_facet Paul Andres Cardenas
Philip J Cooper
Michael J Cox
Martha Chico
Carlos Arias
Miriam F Moffatt
William Osmond Cookson
author_sort Paul Andres Cardenas
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Observations that the airway microbiome is disturbed in asthma may be confounded by the widespread use of antibiotics and inhaled steroids. We have therefore examined the oropharyngeal microbiome in early onset wheezing infants from a rural area of tropical Ecuador where antibiotic usage is minimal and glucocorticoid usage is absent.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>We performed pyrosequencing of amplicons of the polymorphic bacterial 16S rRNA gene from oropharyngeal samples from 24 infants with non-infectious early onset wheezing and 24 healthy controls (average age 10.2 months). We analyzed microbial community structure and differences between cases and controls by QIIME software.<h4>Results</h4>We obtained 76,627 high quality sequences classified into 182 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Firmicutes was the most common and diverse phylum (71.22% of sequences) with Streptococcus being the most common genus (49.72%). Known pathogens were found significantly more often in cases of infantile wheeze compared to controls, exemplified by Haemophilus spp. (OR=2.12, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.82-2.47; P=5.46×10(-23)) and Staphylococcus spp. (OR=124.1, 95%CI 59.0-261.2; P=1.87×10(-241)). Other OTUs were less common in cases than controls, notably Veillonella spp. (OR=0.59, 95%CI=0.56-0.62; P=8.06×10(-86)).<h4>Discussion</h4>The airway microbiota appeared to contain many more Streptococci than found in Western Europe and the USA. Comparisons between healthy and wheezing infants revealed a significant difference in several bacterial phylotypes that were not confounded by antibiotics or use of inhaled steroids. The increased prevalence of pathogens such as Haemophilus and Staphylococcus spp. in cases may contribute to wheezing illnesses in this age group.
format Article
id doaj-art-e44bded46bfb4aac9908921504a0b459
institution OA Journals
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2012-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-e44bded46bfb4aac9908921504a0b4592025-08-20T02:30:51ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032012-01-01710e4680310.1371/journal.pone.0046803Upper airways microbiota in antibiotic-naïve wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural Ecuador.Paul Andres CardenasPhilip J CooperMichael J CoxMartha ChicoCarlos AriasMiriam F MoffattWilliam Osmond Cookson<h4>Background</h4>Observations that the airway microbiome is disturbed in asthma may be confounded by the widespread use of antibiotics and inhaled steroids. We have therefore examined the oropharyngeal microbiome in early onset wheezing infants from a rural area of tropical Ecuador where antibiotic usage is minimal and glucocorticoid usage is absent.<h4>Materials and methods</h4>We performed pyrosequencing of amplicons of the polymorphic bacterial 16S rRNA gene from oropharyngeal samples from 24 infants with non-infectious early onset wheezing and 24 healthy controls (average age 10.2 months). We analyzed microbial community structure and differences between cases and controls by QIIME software.<h4>Results</h4>We obtained 76,627 high quality sequences classified into 182 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Firmicutes was the most common and diverse phylum (71.22% of sequences) with Streptococcus being the most common genus (49.72%). Known pathogens were found significantly more often in cases of infantile wheeze compared to controls, exemplified by Haemophilus spp. (OR=2.12, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.82-2.47; P=5.46×10(-23)) and Staphylococcus spp. (OR=124.1, 95%CI 59.0-261.2; P=1.87×10(-241)). Other OTUs were less common in cases than controls, notably Veillonella spp. (OR=0.59, 95%CI=0.56-0.62; P=8.06×10(-86)).<h4>Discussion</h4>The airway microbiota appeared to contain many more Streptococci than found in Western Europe and the USA. Comparisons between healthy and wheezing infants revealed a significant difference in several bacterial phylotypes that were not confounded by antibiotics or use of inhaled steroids. The increased prevalence of pathogens such as Haemophilus and Staphylococcus spp. in cases may contribute to wheezing illnesses in this age group.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0046803&type=printable
spellingShingle Paul Andres Cardenas
Philip J Cooper
Michael J Cox
Martha Chico
Carlos Arias
Miriam F Moffatt
William Osmond Cookson
Upper airways microbiota in antibiotic-naïve wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural Ecuador.
PLoS ONE
title Upper airways microbiota in antibiotic-naïve wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural Ecuador.
title_full Upper airways microbiota in antibiotic-naïve wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural Ecuador.
title_fullStr Upper airways microbiota in antibiotic-naïve wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural Ecuador.
title_full_unstemmed Upper airways microbiota in antibiotic-naïve wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural Ecuador.
title_short Upper airways microbiota in antibiotic-naïve wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural Ecuador.
title_sort upper airways microbiota in antibiotic naive wheezing and healthy infants from the tropics of rural ecuador
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0046803&type=printable
work_keys_str_mv AT paulandrescardenas upperairwaysmicrobiotainantibioticnaivewheezingandhealthyinfantsfromthetropicsofruralecuador
AT philipjcooper upperairwaysmicrobiotainantibioticnaivewheezingandhealthyinfantsfromthetropicsofruralecuador
AT michaeljcox upperairwaysmicrobiotainantibioticnaivewheezingandhealthyinfantsfromthetropicsofruralecuador
AT marthachico upperairwaysmicrobiotainantibioticnaivewheezingandhealthyinfantsfromthetropicsofruralecuador
AT carlosarias upperairwaysmicrobiotainantibioticnaivewheezingandhealthyinfantsfromthetropicsofruralecuador
AT miriamfmoffatt upperairwaysmicrobiotainantibioticnaivewheezingandhealthyinfantsfromthetropicsofruralecuador
AT williamosmondcookson upperairwaysmicrobiotainantibioticnaivewheezingandhealthyinfantsfromthetropicsofruralecuador