Insights into the Naso-Oropharyngeal Bacterial Composition in Suspected SARS-CoV-2 Cases
Librada A. Atencio,
Indira J. Quintero,
Alejandro Almanza,
Gilberto Eskildsen,
Joel Sánchez-Gallego,
Mellissa Herrera,
Hermógenes Fernández-Marín,
José R. Loaiza,
Luis C. Mejía
Affiliations
Librada A. Atencio
Centro de Biodiversidad y Descubrimiento de Drogas, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT), Clayton, Panama City 0843-01103, Panama
Indira J. Quintero
Centro de Biodiversidad y Descubrimiento de Drogas, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT), Clayton, Panama City 0843-01103, Panama
Alejandro Almanza
Centro de Biodiversidad y Descubrimiento de Drogas, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT), Clayton, Panama City 0843-01103, Panama
Gilberto Eskildsen
Departamento de Microbiología Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Panamá, Panama City 0819-07289, Panama
Joel Sánchez-Gallego
Department of Marine Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Mellissa Herrera
Hospital Luis “Chicho” Fábrega, MINSA, Santiago 0923, Panama
Hermógenes Fernández-Marín
Centro de Biodiversidad y Descubrimiento de Drogas, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT), Clayton, Panama City 0843-01103, Panama
José R. Loaiza
Centro de Biodiversidad y Descubrimiento de Drogas, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT), Clayton, Panama City 0843-01103, Panama
Luis C. Mejía
Centro de Biodiversidad y Descubrimiento de Drogas, Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología (INDICASAT), Clayton, Panama City 0843-01103, Panama
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was the causative agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. While research on COVID-19 has mainly focused on its epidemiology, pathogenesis, and treatment, studies on the naso-oropharyngeal microbiota have emerged in the last few years as an overlooked area of research. Here, we analyzed the bacterial community composition of the naso-oropharynx in 50 suspected SARS-CoV-2 cases (43 detected, 7 not detected) from Veraguas province (Panama) distributed across five age categories. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences (p Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus, Prevotella, Streptococcus, and Tepidiphilus were the most abundant in both detected and not-detected SARS-CoV-2 group. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) for biomarker exploration indicated that Veillonella and Prevotella were enriched in detected and hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 relative to non-detected patients, while Thermoanaerobacterium and Haemophilus were enriched in non-detected patients with SARS-CoV-2. The results also indicated that the genus Corynebacterium was found to decrease in patients with detected SARS-CoV-2 relative to those with non-detected SARS-CoV-2. Understanding the naso-oropharyngeal microbiota provides insights into the diversity, composition, and resilience of the microbial community in patients with SARS-CoV-2.
