AUTHOR=Mahnic Aleksander , Pintar Spela , Skok Pavel , Rupnik Maja 

TITLE=Gut community alterations associated with Clostridioides difficile colonization in hospitalized gastroenterological patients with or without inflammatory bowel disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.988426

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.988426

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Clostridioides difficile</italic> colonization and development of infection commonly occur in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients and can trigger flare-ups. Both conditions are inherently linked to disrupted gut microbiota. This study included 149 hospitalized gastrointestinal patients, which were divided into IBD (<italic>n</italic> = 48) and non-IBD patients (<italic>n</italic> = 101). Patients were tested for <italic>C. difficile</italic> colonization (qPCR and selective plating), and gut bacterial communities were analyzed with 16S amplicon sequencing. Blood test results were retrospectively collected from the medical records. IBD and non-IBD patients had comparable <italic>C. difficile</italic> colonization rates (31.7 and 33.3%, respectively). Compared to non-IBD <italic>C. difficile-</italic>non-colonized patients, IBD and <italic>C. difficile-</italic>colonized patients shared multiple common bacterial community characteristics including decreased diversity and reduced abundance of strict anaerobic bacteria. Furthermore, certain microbiota alterations were enhanced when IBD was accompanied by <italic>C. difficile</italic> colonization, indicating a synergistic effect between both medical complications. Conversely, certain microbial patterns were specific to <italic>C. difficile</italic> colonization, e.g., co-occurrence with <italic>Enterococcus</italic>, which was most common in IBD patients (81.3%).</p>