Metabarcoding approach to identify bacterial community profiling related to nosocomial infection and bacterial trafficking-routes in hospital environments

Nosocomial infections (NIs) appear in patients under medical care in the hospital. The surveillance of the bacterial communities employing high-resolution 16S rRNA profiling, known as metabarcoding, represents a reliable method to establish factors that may influence the composition of the bacterial population during NIs. The present study aimed to utilize high-resolution 16S rRNA profiling to identify high bacterial diversity by analyzing 11 inside and 10 outside environments from the General Hospital of Ribeirão Preto Medical School, Brazil. Our results identified a high bacterial diversity, and among these, the most abundant bacterial genera linked to NIs were <i>Cutibacterium, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus</i>, and <i>Corynebacterium</i>. A Acinetobacter was detected in cafeterias, bus stops, and adult and pediatric intensive care units (ICUs). Data suggest an association between transport and alimentation areas proximal to the hospital ICU environment. Interestingly, the correlation and clusterization analysis showed the potential of the external areas to directly influence the ICU pediatric department microbial community, including the outpatient’s clinic, visitor halls, patient reception, and the closest cafeterias. Our results demonstrate that high-resolution 16S rRNA profiling is a robust and reliable tool for bacterial genomic surveillance. In addition, the metabarcoding approach might help elaborate decontamination policies, and consequently reduce NIs.

医院获得性感染（Nosocomial Infections, NIs）是指住院患者在医疗照护过程中发生的感染。采用宏条形码技术（metabarcoding）开展细菌群落的高分辨率16S rRNA基因谱分析，是明确医院获得性感染进程中影响细菌种群组成相关因素的可靠手段。本研究依托巴西里贝朗普雷图医学院附属综合医院的11处室内环境与10处室外环境样本，通过高分辨率16S rRNA基因谱分析鉴定高多样性细菌群落，旨在明确相关关联因素。研究结果显示，样本中存在丰富的细菌多样性，其中与医院获得性感染高度相关的优势菌属为痤疮杆菌属（Cutibacterium）、链球菌属（Streptococcus）、葡萄球菌属（Staphylococcus）及棒状杆菌属（Corynebacterium）。不动杆菌属（Acinetobacter）在食堂、公交站点、成人与儿童重症监护病房（ICU）中均有检出。数据分析提示，医院重症监护病房周边的交通与餐饮区域或存在微生物传播关联。值得关注的是，相关性与聚类分析结果表明，室外环境可直接影响儿科重症监护病房的微生物群落结构，涉及门诊诊所、访客大厅、患者接待处及邻近食堂。本研究证实，高分辨率16S rRNA基因谱分析是一种稳健且可靠的细菌基因组监测工具。此外，宏条形码技术可为制定环境消毒策略、进而降低医院获得性感染发生率提供重要参考。