Exploring the nasopharyngeal microbiota composition in infants with whooping cough: a test-negative case-control study
Author
Rocafort, Muntsa
Henares, Desiree
Brotons, Pedro
Barrabeig, Irene
Launes, Cristian
Merdrignac, Lore
Valenciano, Marta
Domínguez, Angela
Godoy, Pere
Muñoz-Almagro, Carmen
Publication date
2021ISSN
1932-6203
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to characterize the nasopharyngeal microbiota of infants with possible and confirmed pertussis compared to healthy controls. Methods: This prospective study included all infants <1 year with microbiologically confirmed diagnosis of pertussis attended at a University Hospital over a 12-month period. For each confirmed case, up to 2 consecutive patients within the same age range and meeting the clinical case definition of pertussis but testing PCR-negative were included as possible cases. A third group of asymptomatic infants (healthy controls) were also included. Nasopharyngeal microbiota was characterized by sequencing the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Common respiratory DNA/RNA viral co-infection was tested by multiplex PCR. Results: Twelve confirmed cases, 21 possible cases and 9 healthy controls were included. Confirmed whooping cough was primarily driven by detection of Bordetella with no other major changes on nasopharyngeal microbiota. Possible cases had limited abundance or absence of Bordetella and a distinctive microbiota with lower bacterial richness and diversity and higher rates of viral co-infection than both confirmed cases and healthy controls. Bordetella reads determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing were found in all 12 confirmed cases (100%), 3 out of the 21 possible cases (14.3%) but in any healthy control. Conclusion: This study supports the usefulness of 16S rRNA gene sequencing for improved sensitivity on pertussis diagnosis compared to real-time PCR and to understand other microbial changes occurring in the nasopharynx in children <1 year old with suspected whooping cough compared to healthy controls.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
61 - Medical sciences
Keywords
Tos ferina
Infants -- Salut i higiene
Microbiota nasofaríngia
Tos ferina
Niños -- Salud e higiene
Microbiota nasofaríngea
Whooping cough
Children -- Health and hygiene
Nasopharyngeal microbiota
Pages
16
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Collection
16;10
Is part of
PLoS One
Citation
Rocafort, Muntsa; Henares, Desiree; Brotons, Pedro [et al.]. Exploring the nasopharyngeal microbiota composition in infants with whooping cough: a test-negative case-control study. PLoS ONE, 2021, 16(10), e0259318. Disponible en: <https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0259318>. Fecha de acceso: 7 mar. 2022. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259318
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Ciències de la Salut [725]
Rights
© 2021 Rocafort et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/