Long-term changes in the gut microbiota before and after bismuth quadruple therapy or concomitant therapy in children with peptic ulcers receiving

Background: Methods: Forty-two patients with PUD were enrolled and collected their fecal samples in Shanghai. A 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-based analysis was conducted. The impacts of bismuth quadruple therapy and concomitant therapy on the gut microbiota were compared before eradication and at 2, 6 and 52 weeks (12 months) after eradication. Results: Whatever bismuth quadruple therapy and concomitant therapy, the diversity and richness of gut microbiota markedly decreased and fecal microbiota structure markbly changed at week 2. At week 6, the composition a returned to the baseline level; nevertheless, the diversity and richness gradually returned to baseline until week 52. Compared to those in the healthy control group, the relative abundances of 90% (18/20) of the bacterial genera differed at week 2, 15% (3/20) of the bacterial genera differed at week 6, and 10% (2/20) of the bacterial genera were not restored at week 52. Conclusions: Both bismuth-containing therapy and concomitant therapy resulted in transient changes of the gut microbiota in Chinese children, and these changes nearly returned to pre-eradication levels 1 year after eradication, suggesting the long-term safety of