BACKGROUND: Haemophilus species are the most common microbiota in humans. The aim of this paper was to investigate Haemophilus spp., mainly H. parainfluenzae prevalence, in the upper respiratory tract of chronic hepatitis C (CHC-positive) patients with or without therapy using pegylated interferon alfa and ribavirin.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We collected 462 samples from 54 healthy people and 100 CHC-positive patients at various stages: before (group A), during (group B), and after (group C) antiviral therapy. Identification of bacterial isolates including biotypes and antimicrobials susceptibility was accomplished by means of standard microbiological methods.

RESULTS: In 70.4% of healthy people (control group) and in 27.0% of CHC-positive patients, the presence of haemophili, mainly H. parainfluenzae was observed, and those differences were statistically significant (p<0.0001). Statistically significant differences in Haemophilus spp. colonization were also observed among healthy people and CHC-positive patients from group A (p=0.0012) and from B or C groups (p<0.0001). Resistance to ampicillin in beta-lactamase-positive isolates and multidrug resistance (MDR) of H. parainfluenzae was detected mainly in group A.

CONCLUSIONS: The obtained data suggest that chronic hepatitis C, together with antiviral therapy, may influence the respiratory tract microbiota composition as found using haemophili, mainly H. parainfluenzae.

Keywords: Candida - physiology, Colony Count, Microbial, Drug Resistance, Microbial, Haemophilus - physiology, Hepatitis C, Chronic - microbiology, Nasopharynx - microbiology, Respiratory System - pathology