More Diverse School Microbiota May Provide Better Protection Against Respiratory Infections for School Staff

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cox-Ganser, Jean M. ; Croston TL ; Green, Brett J. ; Lemons, Angela R. ; Park, Ju-Hyeong ; Roseman, Jerry
• Description:
  Our understanding of how exposure to school microbiota affects the respiratory health of staff and students in schools is limited. We examined the associations between exposure to school microbiota and respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. We performed an epidemiologic analysis of 1,529 school employees in the U.S. A questionnaire was administered to school staff to collect health information, and floor dust was vacuumed from 500 classrooms in 50 schools. Fungal internal transcribed spacer region and bacterial 16S amplicon sequencing were performed with extracted genomic DNA using Illumina Mi-Seq platform. The resulting DNA sequences were clustered into operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Staff were assigned the school-building-specific floor average number of bacterial or fungal OTUs from the same floor as their exposure. We used logistic regression models to estimate adjusted odds ratios of reported respiratory and gastrointestinal infections in the last 12 months. Exposure to the highest quartile in number of OTUs (Q4, highest richness) of the bacterial phyla Firmicutes or Actinobacteria was associated with 28-61 % lower odds of upper or lower respiratory infections compared to the lower three quartiles (Q123). Higher Firmicutes diversity was more strongly associated with upper respiratory infections, while greater Actinobacteria diversity showed a stronger association with lower respiratory infections. Fungal diversity was not associated with any type of infection, and neither bacterial nor fungal diversity was associated with gastrointestinal infections. Our study suggests that exposure to a highly diverse bacterial microbiota in school environments may play an important role in protecting school staff against respiratory infections. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Education Fungi Microbiology Occupational Health Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety
• Keywords:
  Actinobacteria And Firmicutes Author Keywords: Infection Bacteria Infectious Diseases Microbial Richness Protective Effects Respiratory Health Respiratory Infections School Workers Teaching
• ISSN:
  0360-1323
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Pennsylvania ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA] ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  RHD - Respiratory Health Division ; HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  271
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070497
• Citation:
  Build Environ 2025 Mar; 271:112657
• Contact Point Address:
  Ju-Hyeong Park, Respiratory Health Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Morgantown, West Virginia 26505
• Email:
  gzp8@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Building and Environment
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:45693023ef0feb8cb25bb925b061d4ae4934f63a8a1a6ed9ed7ce0bdf99a2b66e6844dc46aabfba5cff339464d934fab8a7e0708adcf61393eb72fe4d60ee314
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208695/cdc_208695_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 577.08 KB ]