Biofilm composition on endotracheal tubes recovered from COVID-19 patients using 16S and ITS1 sequencing.

31 ETTs were obtained from COVID-19 patients on the ICU of UZ Gent and biofilms were collected. As part of the larger study to elucidate the biofilm diversity and susceptibility culture-independent identification was done using 16S and ITS amplicon sequencing on spun down cell pellets of the extracted biofilms.The culture independent approach revealed a wide variety of microbes present in the ET biofilms and showed large variation in their composition between patients. Some biofilms contained a diverse set of bacteria of which many are generally seen as commensals, whereas some were dominated by a single or a few pathogens.