Association between chlorine-treated drinking water, the gut microbiome, and enteric pathogen burden in young children in Haiti: An observational study

Study information

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study design

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

38977240

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1016/j.ijid.2024.107165

URI Uniform resource identifier for web resources.

Authors

Chac D., Slater D.M., Guillaume Y., Dunmire C.N., Ternier R., Vissières K., Juin S., Lucien M.A.B., Boncy J., Sanchez V.M., Dumayas M.G., Augustin G.C., Bhuiyan T.R., Qadri F., Chowdhury F., Khan A.I., Weil A.A., Ivers L.C., Harris J.B.

Journal

International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases

Year

2024

Keywords:

Chlorine, Free chlorine residual, Gut microbiome, Infant microbiome

OBJECTIVE: The effects of sanitation and hygiene interventions on the gut microbiome and enteric pathogen burden are not well understood. We measured the association between free chlorine residue (FCR) levels in drinking water, microbiome composition, and stool enteric pathogens in infants and young children in Haiti. METHODS: FCR levels were measured in household drinking water and enteric pathogen burden was evaluated using multiplex RT-PCR of stool among 131 children from one month to five years of age living in Mirebalais, Haiti. Microbiome profiling was performed using metagenomic sequencing. RESULTS: Most individuals lived in households with undetectable FCR measured in the drinking water (112/131, 86%). Detection of enteric pathogen DNA in stool was common and did not correlate with household water FCR. The infant microbiome in households with detectable FCR demonstrated reduced richness (fewer total number of species, P = 0.04 Kruskall-Wallis test) and less diversity by Inverse Simpson measures (P = 0.05) than households with undetectable FCR. Infants in households with a detectable FCR were more likely to have abundant Bifidobacterium. Using in vitro susceptibility testing, we found that some Bifidobacterium species were resistant to chlorine. CONCLUSIONS: FCR in household drinking water did not correlate with enteric pathogen burden in our study.