PMC

Panel A shows the principal coordinate analyses of the 6 patients with diarrhea and the 9 patients without diarrhea. The first two axes of the principal coordinate analysis are represented with principal coordinate axis 1 on the y-axis (10.60% variability) and principal coordinate axis 2 on the x-axis (9.17% variability). The individual red points represent the 6 fecal specimens from the 6 patients with diarrhea and the individual green points represent the 9 fecal specimens from the 9 patients without diarrhea. Panels B and C represent the differences in gut microbiota between the diarrhea cohort and no diarrhea cohort by phylum and order levels, respectively. Each color in the pie chart represents the corresponding taxon group in the legend. Bacteroidetes and Bacteroidales are represented in yellow and were significantly decreased in the diarrhea cohort (P=0.007, P=0.007, respectively). LEfSe method was performed to determine individual taxons that were significantly associated with the diarrhea cohort (red) and the no diarrhea cohort (green) (Panel D). A cladogram based on the LEfSe method is shown in Panel E and highlights the taxonomic groups in the diarrhea cohort (red) and in the no diarrhea cohort (green).

(A) Rarefaction analysis of averaged stool samples before (time-point 2, red) and during diarrhea (time-point 3, green) shows significantly decreased richness (richness time-point 2 vs. time point 3: P = 0.029, Student’s t-test). (B) Rarefaction analysis of averaged mucosa samples before (time-point 2, red) and during diarrhea (time-point 3, green) shows a trend toward but non-significant decrease in richness (richness time-point 2 vs. time point 3: P = 0.08 Student’s t-test). The dotted line indicates ± SEM; OTU distance = 0.03.

Each bacterial species corresponds to a node. The edge color represents the phylum (blue: Firmicutes; red: Proteobacteria; green: Bacteroidetes; yellow: Actinobacteria; pink: Fusobacteria). The common and specific bacteria detected from patients with diarrhea and those without are provided.

Map of study area (red color indicates districts with significant high hotspot of childhood diarrhea, yellow color indicates districts with significant low hotspot of childhood diarrhea, and light green color indicates districts with non-significant childhood diarrhea)