Spatial Variations in the Nasal Microbiota of Staff Working in a Healthcare-Associated Research Core Facility

Abstract

<b><i>Objective:</i></b> Workers in the healthcare sector are exposed to a multitude of bacterial genera. The location of their work contributes significantly to shaping personal microbiomes. In this study, we investigated the role of the workspace on the nasal bacteriome of staff working in a healthcare-associated research facility. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> The anterior nares of 10 staff working in different laboratories on the ground and first floor of the research facility were aseptically swabbed. Genomic DNA from each sample was used to amplify the V3 and V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene. The amplified products were sequenced using the MiSeq sequencer (Illumina). Operational taxonomic units were filtered through MG-RAST v.3.6. Taxonomic profiling and visualizations were performed in MicrobiomeAnalyst v2.0. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The Wilcoxson Sum test at median abundances (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) indicated that seven taxa (Micromonosporaceae, <i>Micromonospora</i>, <i>Lactobacillaceae</i>, <i>Lactobacillus</i>, Betaproteobacteria, Burkholderiales, <i>Pectobacterium</i>) were significantly diverse between ground-floor and first-floor workers. The analysis of similarity coefficient was 0.412 (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.03) between the ground and the first-floor workers. Random forest analysis predicted 15 features that were significantly different (<i>p</i> &lt; 0.05) in individuals working in different laboratories. Species richness and evenness also differed according to the placement of individuals in respective laboratories. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> These findings add to the knowledge that the healthcare support staff are at a speculated occupational risk. A slight shift in the abundances of bacterial genera and species might lead to unwanted consequences. Continual monitoring is thus warranted.