Year: 2017
Type: article
Study design: Clinical Trial
Abstract: In 2016, the US Food and Drug Administration banned the use of specific microbicides in some household and personal wash products due to concerns that these chemicals might induce antibiotic resistance or disrupt human microbial communities. Triclosan and triclocarban (referred to as TCs) are the most common antimicrobials in household and personal care products, but the extent to which TC exposure perturbs microbial communities in humans, particularly during infant development, was unknown. We conducted a randomized intervention of TC-containing household and personal care products during the first year following birth to characterize whether TC exposure from wash products perturbs microbial communities in mothers and their infants. Longitudinal survey of the gut microbiota using 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing showed that TC exposure from wash products did not induce global reconstruction or loss of microbial diversity of either infant or maternal gut microbiotas. Broadly antibiotic-resistant species from the phylum Proteobacteria, however, were enriched in stool samples from mothers in TC households after the introduction of triclosan-containing toothpaste. When compared by urinary triclosan level, agnostic to treatment arm, infants with higher triclosan levels also showed an enrichment of Proteobacteria species. Despite the minimal effects of TC exposure from wash products on the gut microbial community of infants and adults, detected taxonomic differences highlight the need for consumer safety testing of antimicrobial self-care products on the human microbiome and on antibiotic resistance.
Source: EMBO Molecular Medicine
Authors: Jessica V. Ribado, Catherine Ley, Thomas D. Haggerty, Ekaterina Tkachenko, Ami S. Bhatt, Julie Parsonnet
Institutions: Stanford University, Stanford Medicine
Language: English
Topic: Gut microbiota and health
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $7,990
Funders: National Science Foundation, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Stanford Bio-X, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: G1868717214, Childhood infection and prevention of obesity, G3647538435, G4475131919, G5097059376, Sequence-based pathogen discovery in post-stem cell transplantation syndromes, Household Triclosan and Triclocarban Use and the Developing Infant Microbiome, Institutional Training Grant in Genome Science
OpenAlex ID: W2761186022