Table 3. Microbial groups isolated from meconium and feces of preterm neonates in this study.
| Meconium (N = 14) | 1st week feces (N = 12) | 2nd week feces (N = 13) | 3rd week feces (N = 14) | ||||||
| Microorganism | n | Mean (95% CI)* | n | Mean (95% CI) | n | Mean (95% CI) | n | Mean (95% CI) | P-value** |
| Staphylococcus | 7 | 6.48 (3.95; 9.01) | 12 | 7.84 (7.38; 8.31) | 8 | 7.05 (6.26; 7.83) | 7 | 7.22 (6.29; 8.15) | 0.037 |
| Enterococcus | 5 | 6.15 (3.64; 8.66) | 10 | 8.73 (8.28; 9.18) | 13 | 8.63 (8.13; 9.14) | 13 | 8.26 (7.41; 9.11) | 0.003 |
| Streptococcus | 3 | 4.77 (0.07; 9.46) | 2 | 7.86 | 1 | 6.40 | 0 | 0.236 | |
| Lactobacillus | 3 | 5.27 (2.83; 7.70) | 2 | 7.52 | 4 | 7.19 (2.48; 11.90) | 2 | 6.23 | 0.884 |
| Bifidobacterium | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9.12 | 1 | 9.53 | 0.145 | ||
| Other G+ | 2 | 5.20 | 1 | 7.70 | 1 | 7.70 | 0 | 0.625 | |
| Klebsiella | 1 | 7.27 | 8 | 9.18 (8.80; 9.55) | 8 | 8.95 (8.13; 9.78) | 6 | 8.72 (8.11; 9.32) | 0.004 |
| Serratia | 0 | 4 | 8.73 (6.82; 10.64) | 7 | 9.16 (8.80; 9.53) | 4 | 9.22 (7.80; 10.63) | 0.009 | |
| E. coli | 0 | 6 | 8.91 (7.89; 9.92) | 9 | 9.05 (8.55; 9.55) | 10 | 8.75 (7.97; 9.53) | 0.003 | |
| Other G- | 1 | 6.38 | 1 | 9.22 | 5 | 8.76 (7.33; 10.18) | 4 | 8.40 (5.51; 11.30) | 0.118 |
| Yeast | 1 | 6.08 | 1 | 7.70 | 2 | 5.20 | 0 | 0.603 | |
*
Mean bacterial counts were expressed as log10 CFU/mL.
**
Friedman’s tests.
N, total number of samples.
n, number of samples where a specific microbial group was detected.
Other Gram-positive bacteria included the following genera: Corynebacterium, Micrococcus and Rothia.
Other Gram-negative bacteria included the following genera: Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Erwinia, Morganella, Pantoea, Proteus, Pseudomonas, Shigella and Stenotrophomonas.