PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Thibeault, Charlotte
AU  - Suttorp, Norbert
AU  - Opitz, Bastian
TI  - The microbiota in pneumonia: From protection to predisposition
AID  - 10.1126/scitranslmed.aba0501
DP  - 2021 Jan 13
TA  - Science Translational Medicine
PG  - eaba0501
VI  - 13
IP  - 576
4099  - http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/13/576/eaba0501.short
4100  - http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/13/576/eaba0501.full
AB  - Mucosal surfaces of the upper respiratory tract and gut are physiologically colonized with their own collection of microbes, the microbiota. The normal upper respiratory tract and gut microbiota protects against pneumonia by impeding colonization by potentially pathogenic bacteria and by regulating immune responses. However, antimicrobial therapy and critical care procedures perturb the microbiota, thus compromising its function and predisposing to lung infections (pneumonia). Interindividual variations and age-related alterations in the microbiota also affect vulnerability to pneumonia. We discuss how the healthy microbiota protects against pneumonia and how host factors and medical interventions alter the microbiota, thus influencing susceptibility to pneumonia.