| Congresso Brasileiro de Microbiologia 2023 | Resumo: 1496-2 | ||||
Resumo:The primary goal of this study was to investigate hygiene practices, lifestyle characteristics and microbial profile of young athletes participating in different types of sports and sporting activities. A comparative, cross-sectional study was conducted, involving both female and male athletes aged 18 to 30, who participated in a range of contact and non-contact sports. A survey was utilized as a tool to gather data related to personal information, training routines, hygiene practices and lifestyle traits. Following the completion of the surveys, swabs were collected from the nose, throat and axilla, and a comprehensive microbiological analysis was carried out using established techniques and Matrix Assisted LASER Desorption/Ionization Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI TOF MS). Significance threshold was set at 0.05 (two-tailed). The study encompassed a total of 197 participants, consisting of 121 males and 76 females, who were engaged in either contact (n=98) or non-contact (n=99) sports. Their median age was 24. The study revealed a range of hygiene habits and lifestyle differences among the participants. Male athletes were found to be more frequently involved in contact sports (chi-square=40.751; p<0.001), while female athletes demonstrated a higher degree of attention to hand disinfection (chi-square=15.139; p<0.001) and protection of skin lesions during their training routines (chi-square=16.891; p<0.001). The microbiological analysis identified a diverse array of microorganisms, and we profiled potentially pathogenic microbial flora of athletes participating in different sports. Staphylococcus aureus and enterococci prevailed in contact sports, while Gram-negative bacteria displayed unique prevalence patterns specific to different sports. To illustrate, when we compared football and basketball players, we observed that basketball players can harbor different Gram-negative bacterial species – including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter spp. – whereas football players predominantly hosted Escherichia coli. While the overall hygiene practices and lifestyle habits of the study participants were generally stringent, notable differences were observed when considering gender and sports categories. Additionally, the recognition of distinctive microbial profiles of our participants underscores the importance of a more prominent role for expert microbiologists in the realm of sports. This also calls for the development of personalized strategies aimed at reducing the risk of infections among athletes, and opens the door for developing novel classification of sport contact level based on microbial profiling. Palavras-chave: athletes, hygiene, lifestyle, microbiology, microbial profile | |||||