The microbiota diversity following antibiotic treatment in Clostridium difficile infection
Abstract Background Clostridium difficile ( C. difficile ) is a major nosocomial pathogen that infect the human gut and can cause C. difficile infection (CDI), a diarrheal disease. A dominant risk factor is antibiotic treatment that disrupts the normal gut microbiota. The aim of the study is to examine the correlation between antibiotic treatment received prior to C. difficile infection (CDI) onset and patient gut microbiota Methods Stool samples were collected from patients with CDI, presenting at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center Poriya, Israel. Demographic and clinical information, including previous antibiotic treatments, was collected from patient charts, and CDI severity score was calculated. Bacteria were isolated from stool samples, and gut microbiome was analyzed by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene using the Illumina MiSeq platform and QIIME2. Results In total, 84 patients with C. difficile infection were enrolled in the study; all had received antibiotics prior to disease onset. Due to comorbidities, 46 patients (55%) received more than one class of antibiotics. The most common class of antibiotics used was cephalosporins (n=44 cases). The intestinal microbiota of the patients was not uniform. Differences in intestinal microbiome were influenced by the different combinations of antibiotics that the patients received ( p = 0.022) Conclusions The number of different antibiotics combinations has a major impact on the CDI patients gut microbiome, mainly on bacterial richness.