Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36997797›Full record

ArticleNature microbiology2023

No evidence for a common blood microbiome based on a population study of 9,770 healthy humans.

Cedric C S Tan, Karrie K K Ko, Hui Chen, Jianjun Liu, Marie Loh, SG10K_Health Consortium, Minghao Chia, Niranjan Nagarajan

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature microbiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 113 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
113citing papers in PubMed
22.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

113 citing papers in PubMed, 148 citations in OpenAlex.

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  12. Oral and plasma microbiome in the context of acute febrile illness.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026
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53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Cedric C S TanGenome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore. cedriccstan@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3536-8465
Karrie K K KoGenome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
Hui ChenGenome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2258-0750
Jianjun LiuGenome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
Marie LohPopulation and Global Health, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
SG10K_Health Consortium
Minghao ChiaGenome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore.
Niranjan NagarajanGenome Institute of Singapore (GIS), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore, Republic of Singapore. nagarajann@gis.a-star.edu.sg.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0850-5604
Agency for Science, Technology and Research · SGNational Skin Centre · SG

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Human blood is conventionally considered sterile but recent studies suggest the presence of a blood microbiome in healthy individuals. Here we characterized the DNA signatures of microbes in the blood of 9,770 healthy individuals using sequencing data from multiple cohorts. After filtering for contaminants, we identified 117 microbial species in blood, some of which had DNA signatures of microbial replication. They were primarily commensals associated with the gut (n = 40), mouth (n = 32) and genitourinary tract (n = 18), and were distinct from pathogens detected in hospital blood cultures. No species were detected in 84% of individuals, while the remainder only had a median of one species. Less than 5% of individuals shared the same species, no co-occurrence patterns between different species were observed and no associations between host phenotypes and microbes were found. Overall, these results do not support the hypothesis of a consistent core microbiome endogenous to human blood. Rather, our findings support the transient and sporadic translocation of commensal microbes from other body sites into the bloodstream.

Indexed as

MicrobiotaDNAHumansMouthSymbiosisDNA

Identifiers

PMID36997797
PMCPMC10159858
OpenAlexW4362460054

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.