title: Differences in the Faecal Microbiome in Schistosoma haematobium Infected Children vs. Uninfected Children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several infectious diseases and therapeutic interventions cause gut microbe dysbiosis and associated pathology. We characterised the gut microbiome of children exposed to the helminth Schistosoma haematobium pre- and post-treatment with the drug praziquantel (PZQ), with the aim to compare the gut microbiome structure (abundance and diversity) in schistosome infected vs. uninfected children.
  
  
  METHODS
  Stool DNA from 139 children aged six months to 13 years old; with S. haematobium infection prevalence of 27.34% was extracted at baseline. 12 weeks following antihelminthic treatment with praziqunatel, stool DNA was collected from 62 of the 139 children. The 16S rRNA genes were sequenced from the baseline and post-treatment samples and the sequence data, clustered into operational taxonomic units (OTUs). The OTU data were analysed using multivariate analyses and paired T-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pre-treatment, the most abundant phyla were Bacteroidetes, followed by Firmicutes and Proteobacteria respectively. The relative abundance of taxa among bacterial classes showed limited variation by age group or sex and the bacterial communities had similar overall compositions. Although there were no overall differences in the microbiome structure across the whole age range, the abundance of 21 OTUs varied significantly with age (FDR<0.05). Some OTUs including Veillonella, Streptococcus, Bacteroides and Helicobacter were more abundant in children ≤ 1 year old compared to older children. Furthermore, the gut microbiome differed in schistosome infected vs. uninfected children with 27 OTU occurring in infected but not uninfected children, for 5 of these all Prevotella, the difference was statistically significant (p <0.05) with FDR <0.05. PZQ treatment did not alter the microbiome structure in infected or uninfected children from that observed at baseline.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are significant differences in the gut microbiome structure of infected vs. uninfected children and the differences were refractory to PZQ treatment.
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Division of Translational and Systems Medicine, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Campus, Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gemma Louise
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Kay
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Division of Translational and Systems Medicine, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Campus, Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Millard
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Division of Translational and Systems Medicine, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Campus, Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sergeant
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Health Research, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Midzi
authors.affiliation: Murewa District Hospital, Murewa, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Reggis
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gwisai
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Zimbabwe, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: Takafira
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mduluza
authors.affiliation: Insitute of Immunology and Infection Research, Centre for Immunology, Infection and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Alasdair
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ivens
authors.affiliation: Insitute of Immunology and Infection Research, Centre for Immunology, Infection and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Norman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nausch
authors.affiliation: Insitute of Immunology and Infection Research, Centre for Immunology, Infection and Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Francisca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mutapi
authors.affiliation: Microbiology and Infection Unit, Division of Translational and Systems Medicine, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Campus, Coventry, West Midlands, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pallen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D064806:Dysbiosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D011223:Praziquantel / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012553:Schistosomiasis haematobia / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D011223:Praziquantel