Fig. 1. The study design and variations of the oral and gut microbiota in COVID-19 patients.
a Graphic representation of study design and sample collection. PT(+), throat swab samples from COVID-19 patients during the positive viral RNA test period; PT(−), throat swab samples from COVID-19 patients during the negative viral RNA test period; PF(+), fecal specimens from COVID-19 patients during the positive viral RNA test period; PF(−), fecal specimens from COVID-19 patients during the negative viral RNA test period. b Bacterial composition at the phylum level among groups. Sample size (n) for each group: HT, n = 44; PT(+), n = 52; PT(−), n = 88; HF, n = 32; PF(+), n = 50; PF(−), n = 31. HT, throat swab samples from the healthy controls; HF, fecal specimens from the healthy controls. c PCoA plot based on the unweighted UniFrac distance depicting differences in the bacterial community among groups.