Background: The intestinal microbiota plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile-associated diarrhea, and regional and racial characteristics influence the microbiome composition and diversity. We investigated the intestinal microbiome characteristics of patients with C. difficile colitis (CD+) compared to those of patients with colitis not due to C. difficile (CD-), patients with vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) colonization, and healthy controls, in Korea.
Materials and methods: We collected stool samples from 24, 18, 11 and 13 subjects within CD+, CD-, VRE and healthy control groups, respectively. The microbial communities were evaluated by 454-pyrosequencing of bacterial 16s rRNA.
Results: The species richness and microbial diversity were significantly lower in the CD+ group compared to those in healthy controls, but not compared to those in CD- and VRE groups. Phylum-level analysis showed that the proportion of Actinobacteria in the CD+ group was significantly lower than in the healthy control, but was unchanged compared to that in CD- and VRE groups. At the genus level, compared to the healthy group, the CD+ group showed significantly lower proportions of Blautia, Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium et al. Compared to the VRE group, the CD+ group showed a significantly higher proportion of Anaerostipes.
Conclusions: We could identify the intestinal microbiome characteristics of Koreans with C. difficile colitis. It might help to develop microbiome based diagnostic and treatment modalities.
Keywords: Clostridioides difficile infection; Faecal microbiota; Intestinal microbiota; Next generation sequencing.
Copyright © 2019 by The Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, Korean Society for Antimicrobial Therapy, and The Korean Society for AIDS.