The Effect of <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> Eradication on Human Microbiota: Metagenome Analysis of the Human Gut Microbiome
A total of 152 stool samples from 76 patients with symptoms of gastrointestinal diseases have been analyzed using metagenomic shotgun sequencing technology to assess the effect of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy on Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Escherichia, and Clostridium genera. The relative abundance of bacteria representing these genera in the intestinal microflora of patients before and after antibiotic therapy has been evaluated. It has been shown that the therapy did not have any critical effect in the majority of cases on the number of Lactobacillus, Escherichia and Clostridium genera in the microbial community. Their abundance varied within 0.5% in 76.5%, 51.3%, and 55.2% of patients, respectively. The Bifidobacterium genus has been found to be more susceptible to antibiotics (their number decreased significantly in 60.5% of cases). However, 9.2% of patients have shown the opposite effect. Thus, the obtained data demonstrate that Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy does not have uniform effects on the key members of human intestinal microbiota. This fact should be taken into account when predicting the risks of side effects of antibiotics.