Lung microbiota dysbiosis exacerbates influenza virus infection.

Colonization of Bacillus cereus in the lungs of SPF mice aggravates influenza virus (IAV) infection by engaging the xanthosine–nt5e axis and impairing alveolar macrophage viral phagocytosis.

• Why it matters: Respiratory microbiota can shape host immunity, but how lung dysbiosis influences influenza severity and which microbial factors drive worse outcomes remains unclear.
• What they did: Mice were infected with IAV to model different disease severities, then pulmonary microbiota changes were assessed with multi-omics and animal experiments; targeted bacteriophage removal of B. cereus was tested.
• The result: Lung dysbiosis linked to severe disease involved enrichment of opportunistic pathogenic taxa, and bacteriophage targeting of B. cereus alleviated IAV infection and associated pulmonary lesions.

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