Authors: Maria Paz Ventero, Oscar Moreno-Perez, Carmen Molina-Pardines, Andreu Paytuví-Gallart, Vicente Boix, Isabel Escribano, Irene Galan, Pilar González-delaAleja, Mario López-Pérez, Rosario Sánchez-Martínez, Esperanza Merino, Juan Carlos Rodríguez

Institutions:

  • Microbiology Service, Alicante General University Hospital – Alicante Institute of Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain.
  • Endocrinology and Nutrition department, Alicante General University Hospital – Alicante Institute of Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain
  • Clinical Medicine department, Miguel Hernández University, Elche, Spain.
  • Sequentia Biotech, Carrer Comte d’Urgell 240, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
  • Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Rambla del Poblenou, 156, 08018 Barcelona, Spain.
  • Unit of Infectious Diseases, Alicante General University Hospital – Alicante Institute of Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain
  • Pneumology department, Alicante General University Hospital – Alicante Institute of Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain.
  • Unit of Infectious Diseases, Alicante General University Hospital – Alicante Institute of Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain.
  • Evolutionary Genomics Group, División de Microbiología, Universidad Miguel Hernández; Microbiology Service, Alicante General University Hospital – Alicante Institute of Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain.
  • Internal Medicine department, Alicante General University Hospital – Alicante Institute of Sanitary and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain.
  • Microbiology Service, Alicante General University Hospital – Alicante Institute of Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), Alicante, Spain; Evolutionary Genomics Group, División de Microbiología, Universidad Miguel Hernández.

Publication: Journal of Infection

Date: December 2021

Link: Nasopharyngeal Microbiota as an early severity biomarker in COVID-19 hospitalised patients: a retrospective cohort study in a Mediterranean area

Abstract:

This study aimed to analyse the diversity and taxonomic composition of the nasopharyngeal microbiota, to determine its association with COVID-19 clinical outcome. To study the microbiota, we utilized 16S rRNA sequencing of 177 samples that came from a retrospective cohort of COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Raw sequences were processed by QIIME2. The associations between microbiota, invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), and all-cause mortality were analysed by multiple logistic regression, adjusted for age, gender, and comorbidity. The microbiota α diversity indexes were lower in patients with a fatal outcome, whereas the β diversity analysis showed a significant clustering in these patients. After multivariate adjustment, the presence of Selenomonas spp., Filifactor spp., Actinobacillus spp., or Chroococcidiopsis spp., was associated with a reduction of more than 90% of IMV. Higher diversity and the presence of certain genera in the nasopharyngeal microbiota seem to be early biomarkers of a favourable clinical evolution in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.