Perinatal Pet Exposure, Faecal Microbiota, and Wheezy Bronchitis: Is There a Connection?

Table 3

Results of qPCR analysis of the faecal samples (bacteria(log)/g of faeces) from pet-exposed, non-wheezing (nWB) infants (𝑛=17) and non-exposed, wheezing (WB) infants (𝑛=10) at one month of age.

	Median	Range	Samples (𝑛); ND^†	𝑃 value
Bifidobacterium sp.
nWB	9.57	6.56–10.29	0	0.06
WB	7.41	6.38–10.65	0
B. longum
nWB	8.59	ND–10.44	2	0.02*
WB	5.94	ND–9.86	4
B. breve
nWB	ND	ND–9.96	16	0.02*
WB	ND	ND–9.38	5
B. bifidum
nWB	ND	ND–9.85	12	0.30
WB	ND	ND–6.15	5
B. adolescentis
nWB	ND	ND–8.30	13	0.10
WB	ND	ND	10
B. catenulatum
nWB	ND	ND–9.54	9	0.70
WB	ND	ND–10.10	6
Staph. aureus
nWB	ND	ND–6.65	12	0.80
WB	ND	ND–6.00	7
Akkermansia muciniphila
nWB	ND	ND–5.36	15	0.25
WB	ND	ND–4.70	7
Clostridium coccoides group
nWB	ND	ND–7.59	9	0.80
WB	ND	ND–8.97	7
Clostridium leptum subgroup
nWB	ND	ND–8.78	9	0.78
WB	ND	ND–5.11	6
Clostridium perfringens
nWB	ND	ND–9.00	14	0.45
WB	ND	ND–5.09	7
Clostridium difficile
nWB	ND	ND–8.59	14	0.87
WB	ND	ND–7.96	7

*Significant differences between pet-exposed non-wheezing and non-exposed wheezing infants.
Mann-Whitney 𝑈 test.
^†Bacteria not detected.