Effect of initial empirical antibiotic treatment on the intestinal microbiota of VLBW infants

Abstract

Objective To analyze the effect of empirical antibiotic therapy on the intestinal microbiota of VLBW (very-low-birth-weight) infants on the 28th day, to provide the reference for VLBWI intestinal flora distribution and growth rule. Methods Collected VLBW infants who were treated in NICU of our hospital from August 2016 to February 2017, the infants treated with antibiotics as antibiotics group, while other infants treated with antibiotic free as control group. Fecal samples were collected on postnatal 1st day and 28th day. Total bacterial DNA was extracted. Bacterial taxa were identified by high-throughput 16s rRNA gene sequencing with MiSeq sequencing platform. Results ①5 VLBW infants were assigned to antibiotics group and other 5 VLBW infants were assigned to control group. The fecal samples on the 1st day had no significant variation on genus level (P>0.05), without statistically significant difference in the Shannon-index / Sphingomonas (P=0.23). ②Compared with control group, antibiotics group had increased relative abundance of Acinetobacter and Halomonas in fecal samples on the 28th day, decreased relative abundance of Ureaplasma and Haemophilus, without statistically significant difference in the Shannon-index / Sphingomonas (P=0.16). Conclusion Empirical antibiotic therapy within 1 week in VLBW infants could increase intestinal Acinetobacter and Halomonas content. Key words: Antibiotics; Initial empirical therapy; VLBW infants; Gut microbiota