Open AccessNasopharyngeal colonization with pathobionts is associated with susceptibility to respiratory illnesses in young children
Author(s) -
Timothy J. Chapman,
Matthew C. Morris,
Lei Xu,
Michael E. Pichichero
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0243942
Subject(s) - moraxella catarrhalis , moraxella , haemophilus influenzae , moraxella (branhamella) catarrhalis , microbiome , immunology , pneumonia , respiratory system , medicine , asthma , streptococcus pneumoniae , allergy , respiratory tract infections , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , antibiotics , bioinformatics , genetics , bacteria
Some children are more susceptible to viral and bacterial respiratory infections in the first few years of life than others. However, the factors contributing to this susceptibility are incompletely understood. In a retrospective analysis of clinical samples collected from a prospectively-enrolled cohort of 358 children we sought associations between physician-attended illness visits and bacterial colonization in the first five years of life. A subset of children was identified by unsupervised clustering analysis as infection and allergy prone (IAP). Several respiratory infection- and allergy-mediated illnesses co-occurred at higher rates in IAP children, while the rates of other illnesses were not significantly different between the groups. Analyses of nasopharyngeal (NP) pathobionts and microbiota commensals showed that early age of first colonization with pathobionts Streptococcus pneumonia , non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae , and Moraxella catarrhalis was associated with IAP children, and particularly Moraxella abundance was negatively associated with NP microbiome diversity. We conclude that mucosal pathobiont exposures in early life can influence susceptibility to respiratory illnesses in children.