P849 Analysis of rectal swabs for microbiome sampling in a cohort of IBD patients during disease exacerbation. POLIBD survey results

R. Filip1, J. Gruszecka2

1Kliniczny Szpital Wojewodzki Nr 2 im. Sw. Krolowej Jadwigi w Rzeszowie, Klinika Gastroenterologii i Centralna Pracownia Endoskopii, Rzeszow, Poland, 2Uniwersytet Rzeszowski, Instytut Nauk o Zdrowiu- Kolegium Nauk Medycznych, Rzeszów, Poland

Background

There are only a few studies that have investigated the role of intestinal infections other than Clostridium difficile in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Objectives: Our goal was to investigate the frequency of intestinal infections detected by rectal swabs in IBD patients during admission due to exacerbation of the disease.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 299 patients who underwent microbiome sampling with the use of rectal swabs from January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019, treated at a tertiary IBD centre in Poland. Our main goal was to assess the presence of any infection that could mimic or coexist with IBD exacerbation.

Results

A total of 299 patients were subjected to microbiological examination, including 61 patients with Crohn’s Disease (CD), 143 patients with Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and 95 patients with diarrhoea not related to IBD. Positive results of rectal swab culture were found in a total of 22 samples - in 17 patients with IBD and 5 patients without IBD. Among the IBD patients, positive rectal swab cultures were obtained in cases of UC - 13 samples, 76.5%, p <0.001, CD - 4 samples, 23.5% positive results, p = 0.001. In patients with IBD compared with patients without IBD, a higher incidence of intestinal infections was found (in patients with IBD 8.3%, p <0.001, in patients without IBD 5.2%, p < 0.001). Analysis of the results obtained showed seasonal variability in the number of positive microbiological tests found for cultures of rectal swabs in IBD patients. Positive results of rectal swabs from patients with IBD were significantly more frequent in the summer months - 12, 70.6%, p < 0.001 than in the winter months, when 5 positive test results were found (29.4%, p <0.001).

Conclusion

A retrospective analysis of rectal swabs for microbiome sampling collected from IBD patients during disease exacerbation treated in a tertiary IBD centre in Poland was performed. Intestinal infections, other than Clostridium difficile, were found in 17 patients with IBD symptoms. Positive results from rectal swabs of patients without symptoms of IBD were found in 5 cases. The evaluation of the obtained results shows that positive results of rectal swabs were found more often in samples taken from women (12 samples - 68.7%) than from men (5 samples - 29.3%).