ArticleMicrobiology spectrum2023
First-Day-of-Life Rectal Swabs Fail To Represent Meconial Microbiota Composition and Underestimate the Presence of Antibiotic Resistance Genes.
Article in Microbiology spectrum, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- From gut-reproductive microbiota to ferroptosis: a comprehensive insight into the molecular-pathogenicity of endometriosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Infants < 90 days of age with late-onset sepsis display disturbances of the microbiome-immunity interplay.Infection · 2025Article
- Towards unraveling antimicrobial resistance dynamics: a longitudinal exploration of rectal swab metagenomes.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- Using short-read 16S rRNA sequencing of multiple variable regions to generate high-quality results to a species level.Frontiers in bioinformatics · 2025Article
- Persistent reduction ofFrontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Gut microbiome features and resistome elements associated with colonization and infection with antibiotic-resistance threats.Gut microbes reports · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The human gut microbiome plays a vital role in health and disease. In particular, the first days of life provide a unique window of opportunity for development and establishment of microbial community. Currently, stool samples are known to be the most widely used sampling approach for studying the gut microbiome. However, complicated sample acquisition at certain time points, challenges in transportation, and patient discomfort underline the need for development of alternative sampling approaches. One of the alternatives is rectal swabs, shown to be a reliable proxy for gut microbiome analysis when obtained from adults. Here, we compare the usability of rectal swabs and meconium paired samples collected from infants on the first days of life. Our results indicate that the two sampling approaches display significantly distinct patterns in microbial composition and alpha and beta diversity as well as detection of resistance genes. Moreover, the dissimilarity between the two collection methods was greater than the interindividual variation. Therefore, we conclude that rectal swabs are not a reliable proxy compared to stool samples for gut microbiome analysis when collected on the first days of a newborn's life.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.