Emerging role of the gut microbiome in post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome: A literature review

Table 1 Alterations of the gut microbiota observed during acute gastroenteritis and during post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome

Ref.	Subjects/methods	Sample and techniques	Microbiota alterations	Other findings
Jalanka-Tuovinen et al[51], 2014	11 postinfection IBS, 11 postinfection bowel dysfunction, 12 postinfection without bowel dysfunction, 12 IBS-D, 11 healthy controls adults	16S rRNA gene phylogenetic microarray analysis with HITChip, 16S rRNA gene qPCR with group and species-specific primers of feacal sample	Index of microbial dysbiosis” comprised of 27 genus-like groups including: ↑Bacteroidota including various Bacteroides and Prevotella species, ↓Bacillota including various uncultured Clostridiales, and Clostridium clusters	Dysbiosis was associated with bowel, not psychological symptoms; Dysbiosis associated biopsy findings: ↑eotaxin, mast cells, goblet cells, ↓enterochromaffin cells; Dysbiosis associated RNA expression pathways: ↑serotonin transport, condensed chromosome, B cell antigen receptor, ↓caspase
Hsiao et al[82], 2014	7 adults with V. cholerae AGE history, 50 healthy children, 12 healthy adults	16S rRNA gene PCR, V4 region analysis of faecal sample	One week after AGE: ↑V. cholerae Streptococcus spp Fusobacterium spp Campylobacter spp	Two months after AGE (recovery period): ↓V. cholerae Streptococcus spp Fusobacterium spp Campylobacter spp, ↑species indicating recovery Ruminococcus obeum, Collinsella aerofasciens Ruminococcus torques, Eubacterium rectale Faecalibacterium prausnitzii
Ma et al[83], 2011	13 Adenovirus diarrhea, 13 Rotavirus diarrhea, 13 Astrovirus diarrhea, 13 Norvirus diarrhea, 6 control children	16S rRNA gene PCR, V3 region analysis of faecal sample	↓Diversity in diarrheal patients, ↑Enterococcus, Peptostreptococcaceae, Incertae Sedi, Shigella, Weissella spp	↓Bacteroides vulgatus Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus spp
Youmans et al[84], 2015	111 all-cause traveler’s diarrhea/12 healthy travelers	16S rRNA gene PCR, V3 and V5 regions analysis of faecal sample	↓Bacteroidota: Bacillota ratio in diarrheal patients; ↑Species diversity during norovirus infection; ↑Clostridium XIVb Bilophilia Alistipes Barnesiella, Roseburia spp during norovirus infection	↑Bacillota phylum Streptococcus Lactococcus spp in healthy travelers (unexpected)
Patin et al[88], 2020	4 symptomatic and 5 asymptomatic norovirus infected adults	16S rRNA gene analysis of faecal sample	Post norovirus challenge: ↑Bacillota phylum, particularly Clostridia, ↓Bacteroidota Pseudomonadota	Prior to norovirus challenge: Asymptomatic patients had ↑Bacteroidota phylum and ↓Clostridia compared to symptomatic
Nelson et al[86], 2012	38 norovirus infection, 22 healthy controls	16S rRNA gene 454 pyrosequencing, V3-V5 regions analysis of faecal sample	A subset (approximately 1/5) patients with norovirus had: ↓diversity, ↑Pseudomonadota phylum, Enterobacteriaceae family	Escherichia coli diversity and virulence was not associated with norovirus infection
Cheng et al[87], 2022	COVID-19 acute and recovery phase; Non COVID-19	Meta-analysis of 16S rRNA microbial data	↓Ruminococcus Faecalibacterium Roseburia, Coprococcus genus, ↑Fusobacterium Streptococcus in recovery/post-recovery COVID-19 compared to non COVID-19	↓Clostridium clostridioforme, ↑Bifidobacterium breve in COVID-19 compared to recovery/post-recovery COVID-19
Liu et al[93], 2022	68 COVID-19 patients, 68 non-COVID-19 patients	Shotgun metagenomic sequencing	At 6 mo follow up 76% developed PACS; Non-PACS showed recovered gut microbiome profile at 6 mo comparable to that of non-COVID-19 controls; ↑Ruminococcus gnavus, Bacteroides vulgatus and ↓Faecalibacterium prausnitzii in PACS	Butyrate-producing bacteria, including Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii showed the largest inverse correlation with PACS at 6 mo
Zuo et al[95], 2020	15 Acute COVID-patients, 6 community acquired pneumonia patients, 15 healthy controls	Shotgun metagenomic sequencing	Antibiotic naïve patients ↑Clostridium hathewayi, Actinomyces viscosus, and Bacteroides nordii compared with controls; COVID-19 with antibiotic use ↓Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Lachnospiraceae bacterium 5_1_63FAA, Eubacterium rectale, Ruminococcus obeum, and Dorea formicigenerans compared with COVID-19 naïve patients	Baseline abundance of Coprobacillus, Clostridium ramosum, and Clostridium hathewayi correlated with COVID-19 severity: There was an inverse correlation between abundance of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and disease severity; Depletion of symbionts and enrichment of opportunistic pathogens persisted after clearance of SARS-CoV-2
Yeoh et al[96], 2021	100 COVID-19 patients, 78 non COVID-19 controls	Shotgun sequencing total DNA extraction from stool sample	Patients with COVID-19 were depleted in Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Eubacterium rectale and several bifidobacterial species, which remain low up to 30 d from disease resolution	Composition of the gut microbiota in patients with COVID-19 is concordant with disease severity and magnitude of plasma concentrations of several inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and blood markers of tissue damage
Sundin et al[99], 2015	13 PI-IBS patients, 19 general IBS patients, 16 healthy controls	HITChip for mucosal and fecal microbiota	↓Mucosal and faecal diversity Bacillota phylum including Clostridium clusters IV and XIVa, ↑Bacteroidota phyum including Bacteroides spp	Reduced diversity was associated with psychological symptoms and increased activated lamina propria lymphocytes. Did not find a difference in major butyrate producer abundance

AGE: Acute gastroenteritis; COVID-19: Coronavirus disease 2019; IBS-D: Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome; PACS: Post-acute coronavirus disease 2019 syndrome; PI-IBS: Post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome; qPCR: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction; SARS-CoV-2: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.