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Are pathogenic intestinal bacteria present in stool specimens from patients with chronic heart failure?

Dixie Huntley1, Anna Mollar2, Javier Buesa3

  • 1Microbiology Service, Hospital Clínico Universitario, Instituto de Investigación INCLIVA, Valencia, Spain.

Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
|February 14, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Previous studies suggested gut pathogens in chronic heart failure patients. This study did not find evidence of these bacterial pathogens in patients with decompensated heart failure.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Cardiology
  • Gastroenterology

Background:

  • Previous research indicated an overgrowth of gut bacterial pathogens like Shigella, Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Yersinia in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients.
  • This reported dysbiosis has been linked to disease progression and severity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the presence of specific gut bacterial pathogens in patients hospitalized with decompensated heart failure.
  • To validate or refute previous findings on gut pathogen overgrowth in heart failure.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 39 patients admitted for decompensated heart failure was studied.
  • Conventional stool bacterial cultures were employed.
  • A multiplexed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay was utilized for pathogen detection.

Main Results:

  • The study failed to reproduce the previously reported findings of gut bacterial pathogen overgrowth.
  • Neither conventional stool cultures nor multiplexed PCR assays detected significant levels of Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., or Yersinia enterocolitica.

Conclusions:

  • The findings do not support the hypothesis of a common intestinal overgrowth of primary gut bacterial pathogens in patients with decompensated heart failure.
  • Further research is needed to understand the gut microbiome's role in heart failure and to clarify conflicting findings.
Keywords:
Campylobacter spp.Salmonella spp.Shigella spp.Yersinia enterocoliticaheart failure

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