Impact of HIV on the Oral Microbiome of Children Living in Sub-Saharan Africa, Determined by Using an <i>rpoC</i> Gene Fragment Metataxonomic Approach
Allison E. Mann, Lauren M. O’Connell, Esosa Osagie, Paul Akhigbe, Ozoemene Obuekwe, Augustine Omoigberale, Colton Kelly, the DOMHaIN Study Team, Modupe O. Coker, Vincent P. Richards
Abstract
Since its recognition as a global epidemic in the early 1980s, approximately 84.2 million people have been diagnosed with HIV and 40.1 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses. The development and increased global availability of antiretroviral treatment (ART) regimens have dramatically reduced the mortality rate of HIV and AIDS, yet approximately 1.5 million new infections were reported in 2021, 51% of which are in sub-Saharan Africa. People living with HIV have a higher prevalence of caries and other chronic oral diseases, the mechanisms of which are not well understood. Here, we used a novel genetic approach to characterize the supragingival plaque microbiome of children living with HIV and compared it to the microbiomes of uninfected and perinatally exposed children to better understand the role of oral bacteria in the etiology of tooth decay in the context of HIV exposure and infection.