Abstract
Silicosis is a serious respiratory disease, which causes great harm to human health. Silicosis patients due to long-term exposure to silica dust particles, may lead to the imbalance of bacterial flora in the respiratory tract, thereby increasing the risk of respiratory infection. In this study, sputum samples from inpatients with silicosis at different stages in a hospital in Chengdu were collected, the genome was extracted, the sputum sample genome was sequenced by high-throughput sequencing technology, and the microflora composition of sputum samples was obtained by using QIIME 1.8.0 for analysis, including OTUs analysis, Alpha diversity analysis, Beta diversity analysis, etc. Then, the structure of respiratory microflora in silicosis patients was analyzed, and the composition, distribution and diversity of microflora in sputum of silicosis patients with different stages were compared. The results showed that the sputum flora of silicosis patients were firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, actinobacteria and clostridium, which were consistent with those of healthy people. However, there were differences in the placement of dominant bacteria in silicosis patients with different stages. Therefore, the study of sputum flora structure of silicosis patients with different stages is helpful to further understand the pathophysiological process of silicosis, and provide a more in-depth theoretical basis for the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of silicosis.