{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,27]],"date-time":"2026-05-27T21:13:45Z","timestamp":1779916425901,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,11]],"date-time":"2025-11-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1762819200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100007086","name":"Selcuk University scientific research coordinator","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["19401070"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["19401070"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100007086","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pathogens"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Urticaria is a skin disorder characterized by erythematous, edematous, and pruritic lesions. Intestinal microorganisms can trigger various immunological responses, and Blastocystis has been suggested to affect gut-associated lymphoid tissue homeostasis and induce allergic reactions. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Blastocystis on the intestinal microbiota in patients with urticaria. A total of 33 patients diagnosed with urticaria and 34 healthy controls were included. Independent sample t-tests, Welch\u2019s t-tests, or Mann\u2013Whitney U tests were applied to assess differences in the Shannon, Simpson, and Chao-1 indices between groups. Significant differences were observed in Proteobacteria (p = 0.015), Bacteroidetes (p = 0.008), Escherichia (p = 0.005), Phocaelcola (p = 0.043), and Prevotella (p = 0.047) between the urticaria and control groups. Bacteroidetes (p = 0.003) and Phocaelcola (p = 0.032) also differed significantly between samples with and without Blastocystis. Overall microbiota composition showed a significant difference between Blastocystis-positive and -negative samples (p = 0.009). The Firmicutes\/Bacteroidetes ratio was 4.1 in healthy controls and 6.4 in urticaria patients. In conclusion, both urticaria and Blastocystis infection significantly influence intestinal microbiota composition, suggesting a potential interaction between Blastocystis colonization and host immune regulation in urticaria.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/pathogens14111140","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,11]],"date-time":"2025-11-11T08:57:41Z","timestamp":1762851461000},"page":"1140","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Comparison of the Intestinal Microbiota of Patients with Urticaria and Healthy Controls: The Role of Blastocystis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8934-0575","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nurullah","family":"Ciftci","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Selcuk University, Konya 42130, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Salih","family":"Macin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Selcuk University, Konya 42130, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"G\u00fclcan","family":"Saylam Kurtipek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dermatology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Selcuk University, Konya 42130, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"U\u011fur","family":"Arslan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Selcuk University, Konya 42130, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"82","article-title":"T\u00fcrkiye \u00fcrtiker tan\u0131 ve tedavi k\u0131lavuzu-2016","volume":"50","author":"Aktan","year":"2016","journal-title":"Turkderm-Arch. 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