Pathobionts in the Vaginal Microbiota: Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis of Three Sequencing Studies.

ABSTRACT: Sequencing studies have shown that optimal vaginal microbiota (VMB) are lactobacilli-dominated and that anaerobes associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV-anaerobes) are commonly present. However, they overlooked a less prevalent but more pathogenic group of vaginal bacteria: the pathobionts that cause maternal and neonatal infections and pelvic inflammatory disease. We conducted an individual participant data meta-analysis of three VMB sequencing studies that included diverse groups of women in Rwanda, South Africa, and the Netherlands (2,044 samples from 1,163 women in total). We identified 40 pathobiont taxa but only six were non-minority taxa (at least 1% relative abundance in at least one sample) in all studies: Streptococcus (54% of pathobionts reads), Staphylococcus, Entero

SUBMITTER: van de Wijgert JHHM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7174631 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature