Host and environmental factors shape upper airway microbiota and respiratory health across the human lifespan.

Our understanding of the normal variation in the upper respiratory tract (URT) microbiota across the human lifespan and how these relate to host, environment, and health is limited. We studied the microbiota of 3,104 saliva (<10 year-olds)/oropharynx (≥10 year-olds) and 2,485 nasopharynx samples of 3,160 Dutch individuals 0-87 years of age, participating in a cross-sectional population-wide study (PIENTER-3) using 16S-rRNA sequencing. The microbiota composition was strongly related to age, especially in the nasopharynx, with maturation occurring throughout childhood and adolescence.

New insights into the epidemiology of - A cross-sectoral retrospective genomic analysis in the Netherlands (2010-2020).

Introduction: Listeriosis, caused by infection with (), is a relatively rare but severe disease with one of the highest mortality rates among bacterial foodborne illnesses. A better understanding on the degree of clustering, the temporal distribution of the clusters, and their association with the various food sources is expected to lead to improved source tracing and risk-based sampling.

Methods: We investigated the genomic epidemiology of in the Netherlands between 2010 and 2020 by analyzing whole-genome-sequencing (WGS) data of isolates from listerioss patients and food sources from nationwide integrated surveillance and monitoring.

Associations and recovery dynamics of the nasopharyngeal microbiota during influenza-like illness in the aging population.

Influenza-like illness (ILI), a disease caused by respiratory pathogens including influenza virus, is a major health concern in older adults. There is little information on changes and recovery dynamics of the nasopharyngeal (NP) microbiota of older adults associated with an ILI. Here, we compared the NP microbiota in older adults reporting (n = 240) or not (n = 157) ILI during the 2014-2015 influenza season at different times of the ILI event.

Benchmarking laboratory processes to characterise low-biomass respiratory microbiota.

The low biomass of respiratory samples makes it difficult to accurately characterise the microbial community composition. PCR conditions and contaminating microbial DNA can alter the biological profile. The objective of this study was to benchmark the currently available laboratory protocols to accurately analyse the microbial community of low biomass samples.