Early respiratory infectious diseases have an influence on the gut microbiome

Introduction Dysbiosis of the gut microbiome in the first year of life is associated with an increased risk for allergic disease. The development of the gut microbiota is affected by a range of early life events, such as delivery modus, breastfeeding and antibiotic treatment. In this study we wanted to assess the association of early respiratory infections on the gut microbiome in 12-months old infants.

Methods Stool microbiome of 90 fullterm ne borns of the EMMA study, was analyzed for 4 time points, day 3 (n=77), day 28 (n=90), day 90 (n=90), day 365 (n=64), via 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Taxonomic composition and alpha and diversity measures of the samples were assessed in relation with the metadata collected by questionnaires (baseline and bimonthly telephone interviews). Multivariate statistical analysis was performed via permutational analysis of variance and confounder-aware examination of associations between interview data and genera abundance.

Results The alpha diversity significantly increased with age. We saw an increase in the relative abundance of Bifidobacteria, Clostridium, Streptococcus and Veilonella between day 3 and day 90 while Staphylocoocusdecreased. Clostridium was the most abundant taxa(oder genus) on day 365. Cesarian section was the most important factor to explain variances of beta diversity in samples from day 3 (7% of Variance, p<0.001), whereas breastfeeding was the most discriminating factor for beta diversity on day 90 (3.1% of Variance p=0.002). Interestingly, we found that the relative abundance of certain genera of day 365 samples was associated with infections during the first 4 months of life. Children with fever and respiratory infections during the first 4 months had increased frequencies of Lachnospiraceae (p.adj=0.009), Anaerotruncus (p.adj<0.001) and Ruminococcus (p.adj=0.03).

Discussion We show that besides mode of delivery and breastfeeding, infections in the first 4 months are associated with the abundance of specific genera in the stool microbiome of 12-months old infants. Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae produce short-chain fatty acids and alternation of these bacteria might influence short-chain fatty acids levels. Further analysis is needed to evaluate if changes in the stool microbiome due to inflections have a long-term impact on childrens’ health, e.g. their predisposition to allergic disease.

Publication History

Article published online:
09 March 2023