Intestinal parasites in rural communities in nan province, thailand: Changes in bacterial gut microbiota associated with minute intestinal fluke infection

Abstract

© 2020 World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd. All rights reserved. Gastrointestinal helminth infection likely affects the gut microbiome, in turn affecting host health. To investigate the effect of intestinal parasite status on the gut microbiome, parasitic infection surveys were conducted in communities in Nan Province, Thailand. In total, 1,047 participants submitted stool samples for intestinal parasite examination, and 391 parasite positive cases were identified, equating to an infection prevalence of 37.3%. Intestinal protozoan species were less prevalent (4.6%) than helminth species. The most prevalent parasite was the minute intestinal fluke Haplorchis taichui (35.9%). Amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA was conducted to investigate the gut microbiome profiles of H. taichui-infected participants compared with those of parasite-free participants. Prevotella copri was the dominant bacterial operational taxonomic unit (OTU) in the study population. The relative abundance of three bacterial taxa, Ruminococcus, Roseburia faecis and Veillonella parvula, was significantly increased in the H. taichui-infected group. Parasite-negative groups had higher bacterial diversity (alpha diversity) than the H. taichui-positive group. In addition, a significant difference in bacterial community composition (beta diversity) was found between the two groups. The results suggest that H. taichui infection impacts the gut microbiome profile by reducing bacterial diversity and altering bacterial community structure in the gastrointestinal tract.