Microbiome Changes in Severe Burns

There exists a vast collection of bacteria that live on, and within, each human body. All surfaces exposed to the external environment, such as the nares, mouth, airway, skin, and intestines, are colonized, and it is estimated that over 100 trillion microbes live within the gastrointestinal tract alone. The interactions between these colonizers and their host have been demonstrated to affect myriad aspects of human health from autism and inflammatory bowel disease to cancer therapy response. Investigations into the role of the intestinal microbiome in sepsis have been ongoing for decades. Data has shown that critically ill patients can not only experience increased intestinal permeability - a factor that allows for the translocation of bacteria and non-microbial tissue injurious factors into the, primarily lymphatic, circulation, but also a disruption of the symbiotic relationship to one of dysbiosis, resulting in what is known as a "pathobiome."

That the microbiome is affected by thermal injury should be no surprise; burn injury has been shown to drive significant intestinal ischemia and inflammation with subsequently increased intestinal permeability. , Burn-induced lung injury has been linked to these changes, and alterations in the microbiome between critically-burned patients (when compared with healthy controls) have been demonstrated, with resultant overgrowth of gram-negative anaerobes. Thus, the microbiome has a clear role in affecting the clinical course of thermally-injured patients.

This is a descriptive case series study examining microbiome changes in two adult patients admitted with severe burn injuries. This will be done by obtaining regular stool samples and analyzing the microbial content, as well as obtaining clinical data on patients including those factors likely to influence the microbial content.