Longitudinal dynamics of cystic fibrosis airways' microbiota during clinical stability and exacerbation

Introduction: In the last decades, complexity of cystic fibrosis (CF) airways microbiota just started to get explored. However, most previous studies used cross-sectional designs thus obtaining snapshots of the lung microbiota at one time point. A longitudinal approach is needed to explore the stability of the CF microbiota over the time and to study the influence of acute pulmonary exacerbations and antibiotic therapy. Methods: In this pilot study, we collected and analyzed the lower airways microbiota (sputum and/or throat swabs) of 10 children with CF over a long timeframe (4 – 20 samples, 268 – 636 days). Th…