Skin Microbiome Compositional Changes in Atopic Dermatitis Accompany Dead Sea Climatotherapy

Abstract

Dead Sea climatotherapy (DSC) is a well-established therapeutic modality for the treatment of several diseases, including atopic dermatitis. Skin microbiome studies have shown that skin microbiome diversity is anticorrelated with both atopic dermatitis severity and concurrent Staphylococcus aureus overgrowth. This study aimed to determine whether DSC induces skin microbiome changes concurrent with clinical improvements in atopic dermatitis. We sampled 35 atopic dermatitis patients and ten healthy controls on both the antecubital and popliteal fossa. High-resolution microbial community profiling was attained by sequencing multiple regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Dysbiosis was observed in both lesional and nonlesional sites, which was partially attenuated following treatment. Severe AD skin underwent the most significant community shifts, and Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus mitis and Micrococcus luteus relative abundance were significantly affected by Dead Sea climatotherapy. Our study highlights the temporal shifts of the AD skin microbiome induced by Dead Sea climatotherapy and offers potential explanations for the success of climatotherapy on a variety of skin diseases, including AD.