Alterations of the Upper Respiratory Microbiome Among Children Living With HIV Infection in Botswana

Authors

Sweta M Patel
John Farirai
Mohamed Z Patel
Sifelane Boiditswe
Leabaneng Tawe
Shimane Lekalake
Mogomotsi Matshaba
Andrew P Steenhoff
Tonya Arscott-Mills
Kristen A Feemster
Samir S Shah
Nathan Thielman
Coleen K Cunningham
Lawrence A David
David M Murdoch
Matthew S Kelly

Language

English

Publication Date

10-15-2025

Journal

The Journal of Infectious Diseases

DOI

10.1093/infdis/jiaf429

PMID

40796326

PMCID

PMC12744898

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

12-29-2025

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Abstract

Children living with HIV (CLWH) are at high risk of colonization and infection by respiratory pathogens, though this risk can be reduced by other microbes in the upper respiratory microbiome. The impact of HIV infection on the pediatric upper respiratory microbiome is poorly understood, and we sought to address this knowledge gap by identifying associations between HIV infection and the nasopharyngeal microbiomes of Batswana children. We enrolled Batswana CLWH (< 5 years) and age- and sex-matched HIV-exposed, uninfected and HIV-unexposed, uninfected children in a cross-sectional study. We used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to compare nasopharyngeal microbiomes by HIV status. Among the 143 children in this study, HIV and HIV-associated immunosuppression were associated with alterations in nasopharyngeal microbiome composition, including lower abundances of Corynebacterium species associated with resistance to bacterial pathogen colonization. These findings suggest that the upper respiratory microbiome may contribute to the high risk of respiratory infections among CLWH.

Keywords

Humans, HIV Infections, Botswana, Female, Male, Cross-Sectional Studies, Microbiota, Nasopharynx, Child, Preschool, Respiratory Tract Infections, Infant, pediatric nasopharyngeal microbiota, bacterial colonization resistance, childhood respiratory infections, Corynebacterium species, Dolosigranulum pigrum, shotgun metagenomic sequencing

Published Open-Access

yes

Recommended Citation

Patel, Sweta M; Farirai, John; Patel, Mohamed Z; et al., "Alterations of the Upper Respiratory Microbiome Among Children Living With HIV Infection in Botswana" (2025). Faculty, Staff and Students Publications. 6495.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/baylor_docs/6495