Altered Faecal Microbiota Composition and Structure of Ghanaian Children with Acute Gastroenteritis

Abstract

Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is a disease of global public health importance. Recent studies show that children with AGE have an altered gut microbiota relative to non-AGE controls. Yet, how the gut microbiota differs in Ghanaian children with and without AGE remains unclear. Here, we explore the 16S rRNA gene-based faecal microbiota profiles of Ghanaian children five years of age and younger, comprising 57 AGE cases and 50 healthy controls. We found that AGE cases were associated with lower microbial diversity and altered microbial sequence profiles relative to the controls. The faecal microbiota of AGE cases was enriched for disease-associated bacterial genera, including Enterococcus, Streptococcus, and Staphylococcus. In contrast, the faecal microbiota of controls was enriched for potentially beneficial genera, including Faecalibacterium, Prevotella, Ruminococcus, and Bacteroides. Lastly, distinct microbial correlation network characteristics were observed between AGE cases and controls, thereby supporting broad differences in faecal microbiota structure. Altogether, we show that the faecal microbiota of Ghanaian children with AGE differ from controls and are enriched for bacterial genera increasingly associated with diseases.