Human stool sample Targeted Locus. human gut metagenome

We analyzed one stool sample collected from a patient treated for drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis and ultimately died from pneumonia due to a Streptococcus pneumoniae 10 months later. We recovered, for the first time, more cultivable than non-cultivable bacterial species in a patient with a low bacterial load in the gut, demonstrating the depth bias of pyrosequencing. We propose that the desertification of gut microbiota in this patient is a reflection of total body microbiota and may have contributed to the invasive infection of S. pneumoniae. This finding suggests that caution should be applied when treating patients with broad-spectrum antibiotics, and preventive measures should be taken to avoid invasive infection.