Altered Patterns of Compositional and Functional Disruption of the Gut Microbiota in Typhoid Fever and Nontyphoidal Febrile Illness

Abstract

Background Experimental murine models and human challenge studies of Salmonella Typhi infection have suggested that the gut microbiome plays an important protective role against the development of typhoid fever. Anaerobic bacterial communities have been hypothesized to mediate colonization resistance against Salmonella species by producing short-chain fatty acids, yet the composition and function of the intestinal microbiota in human patients with typhoid fever remain ill defined. Methods We prospectively collected fecal samples from 60 febrile patients admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh, with typhoid fever or nontyphoidal febrile illness and from 36 healthy age-matched controls. The collected fecal samples were subjected to 16s rRNA sequencing followed by targeted metabolomics analysis. Results Patients with typhoid fever displayed compositional and functional disruption of the gut microbiota compared with patients with nontyphoidal febrile illness and healthy controls. Specifically, typhoid fever patients had lower microbiota richness and alpha diversity and a higher prevalence of potentially pathogenic bacterial taxa. In addition, a lower abundance of short-chain fatty acid–producing taxa was seen in typhoid fever patients. The differences between typhoid fever and nontyphoidal febrile illness could not be explained by a loss of colonization resistance after antibiotic treatment, as antibiotic exposure in both groups was similar. Conclusions his first report on the composition and function of the gut microbiota in patients with typhoid fever suggests that the restoration of these intestinal commensal microorganisms could be targeted using adjunctive, preventive, or therapeutic strategies.

Disruptions of Anaerobic Gut Bacteria Are Associated with Stroke and Post-stroke Infection: a Prospective Case–Control Study

“…Second, we were not able to determine the levels of short-chain fatty acids in this cohort, as the medium that was used in the rectal swab collection tubes impeded us to do metabolomic analyses. Nevertheless, we have validated the relationship between the abundance of these butyrate-producing bacteria and the absolute concentrations of all SCFAs in recent publications [24,47] and are therefore confident that an absence of these bacteria leads to intestinal depletion of these metabolites.…”

Effect of Salmonella enterica ser. Typhi on the gut population of Lactobacillus spp. among typhoid patients in Ondo State, Nigeria

“…This finding proves that there is a direct link between the presence of S. Typhi and the abundance of Lactobacillus species. This is in tandem with a recent study by Haak et al (2020), who reported that patients with typhoid fever had significantly altered patterns of compositional and functional disruption of the gut microbiota compared with healthy persons. In the same study, typhoid fever subjects were found to be significantly more colonised by other pathogens, with a significant decrease in the population of beneficial bacteria.…”

“…Also, the composition of the gut microbiota in pigs' cecum was found to change as a result of infections with S. Typhimurium, according to a recent study (Borewicz et al, 2015). Alteration of the intestinal microbiota by S. Typhi has been attributed to the aerobic expansion of the intestinal environment, leading to the loss of obligate anaerobes (Haak et al, 2020). Loss or reduction of obligate anaerobes (commensals) has been shown to increase the risk of gastrointestinal infection due to reduced colonisation resistance (Haak et al, 2020).…”

“…Frequent exposure to enteric pathogens like Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi has been linked to aberrant gut microbiota (Humphrey, 2009). According to a recent study by Haak et al (2020), patients with typhoid fever had significantly different patterns of compositional and functional disruption of the gut microbiota when compared to patients with nontyphoidal febrile illness and healthy local controls. In healthy individuals, a balanced relationship with the microbes, with no resulting disease has been reported ISSN (print): 1823-8262, ISSN (online): 2231-7538 (Bӓckhed et al, 2005).…”

Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis Correlates with Abnormal Immune Response in Moderate COVID-19 Patients with Fever

“…Studies have demonstrated that gut microbiota plays a certain role in the pathogenesis of febrile diseases, such as familial Mediterranean fever 23 and typhoid fever. 24 However, whether gut microbiota affects the presence of fever in COVID-19 patients is currently unknown. Through MWAS, we found that the abundance of E. faecalis, C. freundii, C. unclassified, H. parainfluenzae , and S. cerevisiae in the guts of COVID-19 patients with fever were significantly higher than in COVID-19 patients with non-fever.…”