Indoor microbiome, environmental characteristics and asthma among junior high school students in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

TL;DR

This study investigates how indoor microbial diversity and environmental factors in Malaysian classrooms relate to asthma severity among students, identifying specific microbes and environmental conditions that influence respiratory health.

Contribution

It is the first study to characterize asthma-associated indoor microbes and their environmental determinants in a tropical region.

Findings

Certain bacterial and fungal taxa are protective against asthma severity.

Environmental factors like dampness and mold influence microbial composition and asthma risk.

Some microbes are newly reported as protective in this context.

Abstract

Indoor microbial diversity and composition are suggested to affect the prevalence and severity of asthma. In this study, we collected floor dust and environmental characteristics from 21 classrooms, and health data related to asthma symptoms from 309 students, in junior high schools in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Bacterial and fungal composition was characterized by sequencing 16s rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, and the absolute microbial concentration was quantified by qPCR. In total, 326 bacterial and 255 fungal genera were characterized. Five bacterial (Sphingobium, Rhodomicrobium, Shimwellia, Solirubrobacter, Pleurocapsa) and two fungal (Torulaspora and Leptosphaeriaceae) taxa were protective for asthma severity. Two bacterial taxa, Izhakiella and Robinsoniella, were positively associated with asthma severity. Several protective bacterial taxa including Rhodomicrobium, Shimwellia and Sphingobium has been reported as protective microbes in previous studies, whereas other taxa were first time reported. Environmental characteristics, such as age of building, size of textile curtain per room volume, occurrence of cockroaches, concentration of house dust mite allergens transferred from homes by the occupants, were involved in shaping the overall microbial community but not asthma-associated taxa; whereas visible dampness and mold, which did not change the overall microbial community for floor dust, decreased the concentration of protective bacteria Rhodomicrobium (\b{eta}=-2.86, p=0.021) of asthma, indicating complex interactions between microbes, environmental characteristics and asthma symptoms. Overall, this is the first indoor microbiome study to characterize the asthma-associated microbes and their environmental determinant in tropical area, promoting the understanding of microbial exposure and respiratory health in this region.