Reduced microbial diversity of the upper respiratory microbiome among individuals with latent tuberculosis infection
A prospective cohort of tuberculosis household contacts (HHCs) (n=231) was established. LTBI was assessed by interferon-? release assay at baseline and at three months follow-up to detect new infections. Selected nasopharyngeal samples taken at baseline visit from 155 participants were processed for 16S amplicon sequencing variant (ASV) analysis. After ASV filtering, 82 samples met our predefined filtering criteria (>1,000 reads) and remained for analysis: 31 nasopharyngeal samples from contacts remaining LTBI uninfected on follow-up (non-TBI), 16 samples from contacts that acquired a new LTBI on follow-up (pre-TBI), and 35 samples from contacts having LTBI from baseline evaluation (TBI). Group comparisons of microbial composition and abundance analysis were performed.