For a study, obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, and diarrhea have all been linked to changes in the gut microbiota. Travelers’ diarrhea (TD) affected up to 60% of people who travel from developed to developing nations, with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and norovirus (NoV) being the most common infections. The gut microbiota was likely to be altered by TD, however, the impact of TD on gut ecosystems has not been explored. The first process of bacterial gut populations linked to TD was presented. The researchers compared the gut microbiomes of those who acquired TD caused by ETEC, NoV, or mixed pathogens, as well as TD caused by no pathogen, to healthy travelers. Regardless of the causative agent or presence of a pathogen, travelers who suffered diarrhea had a dysbiotic gut microbiome profile with high Firmicutes: Bacteroidetes ratios. Among tourists, there was no discernible difference in Beta diversity. The bacterial composition of the healthy travelers’ microbiota was similar to that of the diarrheal groups, but their -diversity was considerably different from that of any pathogen-associated TD group. A comparison of the healthy traveler microbiota to that of healthy people participating in the Human Microbiome Project indicated a substantially larger Firmicutes: Bacteroidetes ratio and significantly different Beta diversity in the healthy travelers. Thus, the gut microbiome composition among healthy, diarrhea-free travelers resembles that of a dysbiotic gut, implying that these changes could be linked to variables such as travel.
Link:www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2015.1019693
