Abstract
The human gut microbiome has a great deal of interpersonal variation due to both endogenous and exogenous factors, like household pet exposure. To examine the relationship between having a pet in the home and the composition and diversity of the adult gut microbiome, we conducted a case-control study nested in a larger, statewide study, the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin. Stool samples were collected from 332 participants from unique households and analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq. One hundred and seventy-eight participants had some type of pet in the home with dogs and cats being the most prevalent. We observed no difference in alpha and beta diversity between those with and without pets, though seven OTUs were significantly more abundant in those without pets compared to those with pets, and four were significantly more abundant in those with pets. When stratifying by age, seven of these remained significant. These results suggest that pet ownership is associated with differences in the human gut microbiota. Further research is needed to better characterize the effect of pet ownership on the human gut microbiome.
Highlights
The human gastrointestinal tract is home to a wide array of different microorganisms and their associated genes—known as the microbiome—which has a major influence on health and disease
We conducted a case-control study on the impact of indoor pet exposure on the human gut microbiota nested within the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) and its ancillary study, the Wisconsin Microbiome Study (WMS) (Eggers et al, 2018)
There was little difference in the diversity and composition of the gut microbiota by pet exposure, though there were several operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that were differentially abundant based on pet exposure
Summary
The human gastrointestinal tract is home to a wide array of different microorganisms and their associated genes—known as the microbiome—which has a major influence on health and disease. There has been increasing interest in what environmental factors influence and alter the composition of the microbiome over the human lifespan. One such environmental exposure of interest is pet ownership. Studies in infants and young children have shown that early life exposure to household furry pets increases richness and diversity of the human gut microbiome (Azad et al, 2013; Tun et al, 2017). Exposure to pets is known to decrease the rate of atopic and allergic disease (Hesselmar et al, 1999; Litonjua et al, 2002; Ownby et al, 2002) and may reduce the risk of metabolic diseases (Tun et al, 2017).
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