ArticleAnnals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials2026
Gut microbiome features associated with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus acquisition in intensive care unit patients.
Article in Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundVancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) infection poses a significant healthcare burden in intensive care units (ICUs), and is preceded by gut colonization. The gut microbiome may influence susceptibility to VRE, but its role in ICU patients remains incompletely defined.
methodsWe conducted a prospective study of patients admitted to a medical ICU from 2019 to 2021. Stool samples were collected for bacterial 16 S rRNA gene sequencing, anal swabs were screened for VRE by culture, and bile acids were measured in initial stool samples.
resultsWe enrolled 108 patients. Thirty-four patients were VRE + on initial screen and remained so (VRE+/+) while 74 were initially negative, of whom 23 acquired VRE (VRE-/+) and 51 remained negative (VRE-/-). There was no difference in alpha-diversity initially between VRE-/- and VRE-/+ groups, whereas VRE+/+ patients had significantly lower alpha-diversity (P < 0.001). VRE-/+ patients had a significantly more rapid decrease in alpha-diversity than VRE-/- patients (P = 0.04). Beta-diversity of initial stool differed among groups (P = 0.001), driven mainly by VRE+/+ patients. A lower Bacteroides/Enterococcus ratio (P = 0.049) and low Clostridium scindens abundance (P = 0.031) were associated with VRE acquisition. Initial stool from VRE-/- patients had a higher combined concentration of deoxycholic acid and lithocholic acid than that of VRE-/+ patients (P = 0.034).
conclusionsVRE acquisition in the ICU was associated with an initial gut microbiome characterized by lower Bacteroides/Enterococcus ratios, lower C. scindens abundance, and lower deoxycholic and lithocholic acid concentrations. Our findings are consistent with a possible role of these microbiome features in colonization resistance, as suggested by in vitro and animal models. However, given the single-center design, these associations should be considered hypothesis-generating and require validation before clinical application.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.