Photo Credit: Claudio Ventrella
Among patients with HIV, significant gut microbiota differences compared with those of patients without HIV appear to be linked with subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD), diet, and inflammation, according to study results published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. For the study, investigators assessed subclinical CVD and microbiota composition among participants who were matched by HIV status and traditional CVD risk factors. They observed a significant separation in gut microbiome β-diversity between participants with and without HIV. “Enrichment of Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, Megamonas hypermegale and Selenomonas ruminantium and depletion of Fusicatenenibacter correlated with lower plaque burden,” the study authors wrote. “Depletion of SCFA-producing Ruminococcus bromii correlated with higher plaque burden and fat intake, while depletion of Bacteroides spp and Alistepes spp correlated with elevated inflammatory biomarkers.”
