Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37816004›Full record

ArticlePloS one2023

Tracking gut microbiome and bloodstream infection in critically ill adults.

Christopher H Gu, Layla A Khatib, Ayannah S Fitzgerald, Jevon Graham-Wooten, Caroline A Ittner, Scott Sherrill-Mix, YuChung Chuang, Laurel J Glaser, Nuala J Meyer, Frederic D Bushman and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 20% 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

7 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Microbial genomics · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
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

11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Christopher H GuDepartment of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Layla A KhatibDepartment of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division and the Center for Translational Lung Biology / Lung Biology Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Ayannah S FitzgeraldDepartment of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division and the Center for Translational Lung Biology / Lung Biology Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Jevon Graham-WootenDepartment of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division and the Center for Translational Lung Biology / Lung Biology Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Caroline A IttnerDepartment of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division and the Center for Translational Lung Biology / Lung Biology Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Scott Sherrill-MixDepartment of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
YuChung ChuangDepartment of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division and the Center for Translational Lung Biology / Lung Biology Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Laurel J GlaserDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Nuala J MeyerDepartment of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division and the Center for Translational Lung Biology / Lung Biology Institute, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Frederic D BushmanDepartment of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.
Ronald G CollmanDepartment of Microbiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0002-0508-3701
University of Pennsylvania · US

Funding

Virus & Reservoirs CoreP30AI045008 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI DAVID S METZGER · 1999 to 2026
$78.6M
Investigating Individual Susceptibility and Host Response in Acute Respiratory Distress SyndromeR35HL161196 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI Nuala Jennings Meyer · 2022 to 2026
$4.8M
Targeting Angiopoietin-2 in ARDSR01HL137006 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI MEYER, NUALA JENNINGS · 2017 to 2021
$2.5M
The Lung DNA Virome in Health and DiseaseR33HL137063 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI BUSHMAN, FREDERIC D, COLLMAN, RONALD G · 2019 to 2021
$2.3M
Reconsidering the IL-1 axis in sepsis-associated ARDSR01HL137915 · NHLBI · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI MEYER, NUALA JENNINGS · 2017 to 2020
$2.1M
NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL137006NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL137915NHLBI NIH HHS R33 HL137063NHLBI NIH HHS R35 HL161196NIAID NIH HHS P30 AI045008
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe gut microbiome is believed to contribute to bloodstream infection (BSI) via translocation of dominant gut bacteria in vulnerable patient populations. However, conclusively linking gut and blood organisms requires stringent approaches to establish strain-level identity.

methodsWe enrolled a convenience cohort of critically ill patients and investigated 86 bloodstream infection episodes that occurred in 57 patients. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to define constituents of their gut microbiomes, and whole genome sequencing and assembly was done on 23 unique bloodstream isolates that were available from 21 patients. Whole genome sequences were downloaded from public databases and used to establish sequence-identity distribution and define thresholds for unrelated genomes of BSI species. Gut microbiome reads were then aligned to whole genome sequences of the cognate bloodstream isolate and unrelated database isolates to assess identity.

resultsGut microbiome constituents matching the bloodstream infection species were present in half of BSI episodes, and represented >30% relative abundance of gut sequences in 10% of episodes. Among the 23 unique bloodstream organisms that were available for whole genome sequencing, 14 were present in gut at the species level. Sequence alignment applying defined thresholds for identity revealed that 6 met criteria for identical strains in blood and gut, but 8 did not. Sequence identity between BSI isolates and gut microbiome reads was more likely when the species was present at higher relative abundance in gut.

conclusionIn assessing potential gut source for BSI, stringent sequence-based approaches are essential to determine if organisms responsible for BSI are identical to those in gut: of 14 evaluable patients in which the same species was present in both sites, they were identical in 6/14, but were non-identical in 8/14 and thus inconsistent with gut source. This report demonstrates application of sequencing as a key tool to investigate infection tracking within patients.

Indexed as

BacteremiaGastrointestinal MicrobiomeSepsisAdultBacteriaCritical IllnessHumans

Identifiers

PMID37816004
PMCPMC10564172
OpenAlexW4387493087

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.