Reduced diversity in the early fecal microbiota of infants with atopic eczema.

It might be that early intestinal colonisation by bacteria in westernised infants fails to give rise to sufficient immune stimulation to support maturation of regulatory immune mechanisms. Fecal samples were collected from 35 infants at 1 week of age. Twenty infants were healthy, and 15 infants were given diagnoses of atopic eczema at 18 months. The fecal microbiota of the infants was compared and it was found that the “index of diversity” was significantly less for infants with atopic eczema than for infants remaining healthy in the whole group and for the Swedish infants when AluI was used for digestion. The same was found when TTGE patterns were compared. The results indicate that there is a reduced diversity in the early fecal microbiota of infants with atopic eczema during the first 18 months of life. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;121(1):129-34.