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 Cutibacterium, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, and Corynebacterium. 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）是指在医院接受医疗护理的患者所发生的感染。采用被称为宏条形码技术（metabarcoding）的高分辨率16S rRNA测序对细菌群落开展监测，是明确医院获得性感染期间影响细菌种群组成相关因素的可靠手段。本研究旨在借助高分辨率16S rRNA测序技术，通过分析巴西里贝朗普雷图医学院附属医院的11处室内环境与10处室外环境样本，解析细菌的高多样性特征。研究结果检出了丰富的细菌多样性，其中与医院获得性感染相关的优势菌属包括痤疮丙酸杆菌属（Cutibacterium）、链球菌属（Streptococcus）、葡萄球菌属（Staphylococcus）以及棒状杆菌属（Corynebacterium）。不动杆菌属（Acinetobacter）在食堂、公交站点以及成人与儿科重症监护病房（ICUs）中均有检出。数据表明，医院重症监护病房周边的交通区域与餐饮区域之间存在关联。值得注意的是，相关性与聚类分析显示，外部环境可直接对儿科重症监护病房的微生物群落产生影响，涉及门诊诊所、访客大厅、患者接待处以及邻近的食堂。本研究结果证实，高分辨率16S rRNA测序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消毒防控策略提供参考，进而助力降低医院获得性感染的发生率。