{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T05:50:05Z","timestamp":1790833805625,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,5]],"date-time":"2021-09-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1630800000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Diagnostics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2) is an infectious virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmitted mainly through droplets and aerosol affecting the respiratory tract and lungs. Little is known regarding why some individuals are more susceptible than others and develop severe symptoms. In this study, we analyzed the nasopharyngeal microbiota profile of aged patients with COVID-19 (asymptomatic vs. symptomatic) vs. healthy individuals. We examined the nasopharynx swab of 84 aged-matched patients, out of which 27 were negative asymptomatic (NegA), 30 were positive asymptomatic (PA), and 27 patients were positive symptomatic (PSY). Our analysis revealed the presence of abundant Cyanobacterial taxa at phylum level in PA (p-value = 0.0016) and PSY (p-value = 0.00038) patients along with an upward trend in the population of Litoricola, Amylibacter, Balneola, and Aeromonas at the genus level. Furthermore, to know the relationship between the nasal microbiota composition and severity of COVID-19, we compared PA and PSY groups. Our data show that the nasal microbiota of PSY patients was significantly enriched with the signatures of two bacterial taxa: Cutibacterium (p-value = 0.045) and Lentimonas (p-value = 0.007). Furthermore, we also found a significantly lower abundance of five bacterial taxa, namely: Prevotellaceae (p-value = 7 \u00d7 10\u22126), Luminiphilus (p-value = 0.027), Flectobacillus (p-value = 0.027), Comamonas (p-value = 0.048), and Jannaschia (p-value = 0.012) in PSY patients. The dysbiosis of the nasal microbiota in COVID-19 positive patients might have a role in contributing to the severity of COVID-19. The findings of our study show that there is a strong correlation between the composition of the nasal microbiota and COVID-19 severity. Further studies are needed to validate our finding in large-scale samples and to correlate immune response (cytokine Strome) and nasal microbiota to identify underlying mechanisms and develop therapeutic strategies against COVID-19.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/diagnostics11091622","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,6]],"date-time":"2021-09-06T10:59:12Z","timestamp":1630925952000},"page":"1622","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Alteration in Nasopharyngeal Microbiota Profile in Aged Patients with COVID-19"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8283-2403","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ravindra","family":"Kolhe","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nikhil Shri","family":"Sahajpal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sagar","family":"Vyavahare","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4204-0153","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Akhilesh S.","family":"Dhanani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Satish","family":"Adusumilli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sudha","family":"Ananth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3826-9489","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ashis K.","family":"Mondal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"G. Taylor","family":"Patterson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthopedics, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sandeep","family":"Kumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5621-3724","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amyn M.","family":"Rojiani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Penn State University, State College, PA 16802, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4480-3484","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlos M.","family":"Isales","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Orthopedics, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"},{"name":"Department of Medicine, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"},{"name":"Center for Healthy Aging, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sadanand","family":"Fulzele","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Cellular Biology and Anatomy, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"},{"name":"Department of Orthopedics, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"},{"name":"Department of Medicine, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"},{"name":"Center for Healthy Aging, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"533","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(20)30120-1","article-title":"An interactive web-based dashboard to track COVID-19 in real time","volume":"20","author":"Dong","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"412","DOI":"10.1016\/j.medmal.2014.08.005","article-title":"Case fatality rates of Ebola virus diseases: A meta-analysis of World Health Organization data","volume":"44","author":"Lefebvre","year":"2014","journal-title":"M\u00e9decine Et Mal. Infect."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mahase, E. (2020). Coronavirus: COVID-19 Has Killed More People than SARS and MERS Combined, Despite Lower Case Fatality Rate, British Medical Journal Publishing Group.","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.m641"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"509","DOI":"10.14336\/AD.2020.0428","article-title":"COVID-19 Virulence in Aged Patients Might Be Impacted by the Host Cellular MicroRNAs Abundance\/Profile","volume":"11","author":"Fulzele","year":"2020","journal-title":"Aging Dis."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1054","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30566-3","article-title":"Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A retrospective cohort study","volume":"395","author":"Zhou","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaci.2020.04.006","article-title":"Risk factors for severity and mortality in adult COVID-19 inpatients in Wuhan","volume":"146","author":"Li","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Allergy Clin. Immunol."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1187","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaci.2019.05.035","article-title":"Distinct nasal airway bacterial microbiotas differentially relate to exacerbation in pediatric patients with asthma","volume":"144","author":"McCauley","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Allergy Clin. Immunol."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"919","DOI":"10.1164\/rccm.201710-2020LE","article-title":"Nasal microbiota and respiratory tract infections: The role of viral detection","volume":"199","author":"Korten","year":"2019","journal-title":"Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11411","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-018-29793-w","article-title":"Nasal microbiota clusters associate with inflammatory response, viral load, and symptom severity in experimental rhinovirus challenge","volume":"8","author":"Lehtinen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107674","DOI":"10.1016\/j.celrep.2020.107674","article-title":"Lactobacilli have a niche in the human nose","volume":"31","author":"Allonsius","year":"2020","journal-title":"Cell Rep."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3862","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-020-60674-3","article-title":"Local oral and nasal microbiota diversity in age-related macular degeneration","volume":"10","author":"Rullo","year":"2020","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1294","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmoldx.2020.07.001","article-title":"Proposal of RT-PCR-Based Mass Population Screening for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (Coronavirus Disease 2019)","volume":"22","author":"Sahajpal","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Mol. Diagn."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e00127-16","DOI":"10.1128\/mSystems.00127-16","article-title":"Microbiome Helper: A Custom and Streamlined Workflow for Microbiome Research","volume":"2","author":"Comeau","year":"2017","journal-title":"mSystems"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"852","DOI":"10.1038\/s41587-019-0209-9","article-title":"Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2","volume":"37","author":"Bolyen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Nat. Biotechnol."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2724951","DOI":"10.1155\/2018\/2724951","article-title":"Microbiota Composition and the Integration of Exogenous and Endogenous Signals in Reactive Nasal Inflammation","volume":"2018","author":"Salzano","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Immunol. Res."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"559","DOI":"10.1016\/j.anl.2020.06.003","article-title":"ENT manifestation in COVID-19 patients","volume":"47","author":"Elzayat","year":"2020","journal-title":"Auris Nasus Larynx"},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Finlay, B.B., and Finlay, J.M. (2019). The Whole-Body Microbiome: How to Harness Microbes\u2014Inside and out\u2014For Lifelong Health Hardcover, The Experiment. [1st ed.]."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lee, K.H., Gordon, A., Shedden, K., Kuan, G., Ng, S., Balmaseda, A., and Foxman, B. (2019). The respiratory microbiome and susceptibility to influenza virus infection. PLoS ONE, 14.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0207898"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.1186\/s12575-020-00131-7","article-title":"Nasopharyngeal Microbiota Profiling of SARS-CoV 2 Infected Patients","volume":"22","author":"Posteraro","year":"2020","journal-title":"Biol. Proced. Online"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wiertsema, S., Pvan Bergenhenegouwen, J., Garssen, J., and Knippels, L.M.J. (2021). The Interplay between the Gut Microbiome and the Immune System in the Context of Infectious Diseases throughout Life and the Role of Nutrition in Optimizing Treatment Strategies. Nutrients, 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/nu13030886"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"296","DOI":"10.1038\/s41385-020-00361-8","article-title":"The lung\u2013gut axis during viral respiratory infections: The impact of gut dysbiosis on secondary disease outcomes","volume":"14","author":"Sencio","year":"2021","journal-title":"Mucosal. Immunol."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"213","DOI":"10.3389\/fcimb.2020.00213","article-title":"Bacterial Community Interactions During Chronic Respiratory Disease","volume":"10","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2640","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2018.02640","article-title":"Respiratory Viral Infection-Induced Microbiome Alterations and Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia","volume":"9","author":"Hanada","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. Immunol."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1551","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2019.01551","article-title":"The Commensal Microbiota and Viral Infection: A Comprehensive Review","volume":"10","author":"Li","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front. Immunol."}],"container-title":["Diagnostics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4418\/11\/9\/1622\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T06:56:39Z","timestamp":1760165799000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4418\/11\/9\/1622"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,5]]},"references-count":24,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]}},"alternative-id":["diagnostics11091622"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/diagnostics11091622","relation":{},"ISSN":["2075-4418"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2075-4418","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,5]]}}}