When diagnosing sepsis, it is common to look for pathogens, microbe’s DNA, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or host biomarkers while missing out on microbiota. The next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA gene allowed characterizing the gut microbiota taxonomy and clarifying the gut microbial population being more complex than was previously thought. We suppose that significant disruption of the microbiota is an indicator of the major role it plays in sepsis. Serious metabolic disorders of the gut microbiota may contribute to an unfavorable outcome in septic patients. With the changes not only in the composition but also in the metabolic activity of the gut microbiota taken into account, the characteristics of the mechanisms of interactions in the “septic” microbiome will allow the advances in the optimization of the diagnostics and therapy of sepsis to be made.
Part of the book: Infectious Process and Sepsis