School of Medicine. Department of Basic Sciences. Research group of Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of Cartagena, Cartagena, Bolivar, 130001, Colombia.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, 10595, USA.
F1000Res. 2020 Feb 3;9:78. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.22035.2. eCollection 2020.
The anterior nares are the main ecological niche for , an important commensal and opportunistic pathogen. Medical students are frequently colonized by a variety of pathogens. Microbial interactions in the human nose can prevent or favor colonization by pathogens, and individuals colonized by pathogens have increased risk of infection and are the source of transmission to other community members or susceptible individuals. According to recent studies, the microbiome from several anatomic areas of healthy individuals varies across different ethnicities. Although previous studies analyzed the nasal microbiome in association with carriage, those studies did not provide information regarding ethnicity of participants. Our aim was to assess nasal carriage patterns and prevalence among medical students from Colombia, a country of Hispanic origin, and to investigate possible associations of colonization and nasal microbiome composition (bacterial and fungal) in a subgroup of students with known carriage patterns. Nasal swabs from second-year medical students were used to determine prevalence and patterns of nasal carriage. Based on microbiological results, we assigned participants into one of three patterns of colonization: , and . Then, we evaluated the composition of nasal microbial communities (bacterial and fungal) in 5 individuals from each carriage category using 16S rRNA and Internal-Transcribed-Spacer sequencing. Prevalence of nasal carriage among medical students was 28%. Carriage of methicillin-resistant strains was 8.4% and of methicillin-sensitive strains was 19.6%. We identified 19.6% persistent carriers, 17.5% intermittent carriers, and 62.9% non-carriers. Analysis of nasal microbiome found that bacterial and fungal diversity was higher in individuals colonized by than in non-carriers; however, the difference among the three groups was non-significant. We confirmed that fungi were present within the healthy anterior nares at substantial biomass and richness.
鼻腔前部是 定植的主要生态位， 是一种重要的共生和机会性病原体。医学生经常被多种病原体定植。人类鼻腔中的微生物相互作用可以防止或促进病原体定植，而被病原体定植的个体感染风险增加，是向其他社区成员或易感个体传播的来源。根据最近的研究，来自健康个体不同解剖区域的微生物组在不同种族之间存在差异。尽管之前的研究分析了与 定植相关的鼻腔微生物组，但这些研究没有提供参与者种族的信息。我们的目的是评估哥伦比亚医学生的 鼻腔携带模式和流行率，这是一个西班牙裔起源的国家，并调查已知 定植模式的学生亚组中定植和鼻腔微生物组组成（细菌和真菌）之间的可能关联。使用鼻腔拭子从二年级医学生中确定 鼻腔携带的流行率和模式。根据微生物学结果，我们将参与者分为三种 定植模式之一： 、 、 。然后，我们使用 16S rRNA 和内部转录间隔区测序评估来自每个定植类别 5 名个体的鼻腔微生物群落（细菌和真菌）组成。医学生中 鼻腔携带的流行率为 28%。耐甲氧西林菌株的携带率为 8.4%，甲氧西林敏感菌株的携带率为 19.6%。我们确定了 19.6%的持续携带者、17.5%的间歇性携带者和 62.9%的非携带者。鼻腔微生物组分析发现，定植 的个体的细菌和真菌多样性高于非携带者；然而，三组之间的差异无统计学意义。我们证实真菌以相当大的生物量和丰富度存在于健康的鼻腔前部。
