Children Living near a Sanitary Landfill Have Increased Breath Methane and Methanobrevibacter smithii in Their Intestinal Microbiota

This study evaluated the breath CH4excretion and concentration ofM. smithiiin intestinal microbiota of schoolchildren from 2 slums. One hundred and eleven children from a slum near a sanitary landfill, 35 children of a slum located away from the sanitary landfill, and 32 children from a high socioeconomic level school were included in the study. Real-time PCR was performed to quantify theM. smithii nifHgene and it was present in the microbiota of all the participating children, with higherP<0.05concentrations in those who lived in the slum near the landfill (3.16×107 CFU/g of feces), comparing with the children from the slum away from the landfill (2.05×106 CFU/g of feces) and those from the high socioeconomic level group (3.93×105 CFU/g of feces). The prevalence of children who present breath methane was 53% in the slum near the landfill, 31% in the slum further away from the landfill and, 22% in the high socioeconomic level group. To live near a landfill is associated with higher concentrations ofM. smithiiin intestinal microbiota, comparing with those who live away from the landfill, regardless of their socioeconomics conditions.