We investigated nasopharyngeal microbial community structure in COVID-19-positive and -negative patients. High-throughput 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing revealed significant microbial community structure differences between COVID-19-positive and -negative patients. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that: (1) nasopharyngeal microbiome communities can be assessed using collection samples already collected for SARS-CoV-2 testing (viral transport media) and (2) SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with altered dysbiotic microbial profiles which could be a biomarker for disease progression and prognosis in SARS-CoV-2.

中文翻译：

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SARS-CoV-2阳性和阴性患者的鼻咽微生物群

我们调查了 COVID-19 阳性和阴性患者的鼻咽微生物群落结构。高通量 16S 核糖体 RNA 基因扩增子测序揭示了 COVID-19 阳性和阴性患者之间显着的微生物群落结构差异。这项概念验证研究表明：(1) 可以使用已经为 SARS-CoV-2 测试（病毒运输介质）收集的收集样本评估鼻咽微生物群落，以及 (2) SARS-CoV-2 感染与改变可能是 SARS-CoV-2 疾病进展和预后的生物标志物。