This study aims to find out the type of bacteria in the guts of community-dwelling individuals who have dementia, their spousal carers, and age-matched individuals with other chronic illnesses and their spousal carers. The information will help us understand why carers of individuals living with dementia are six times more likely to develop dementia themselves.In addition to helping us answer whether gut bacteria are a marker of dementia, you will have the opportunity to track your gut bacteria (biome) in relation to others around the world. This will include how your gut bacteria compare to other people of a similar age, location, and diet.Sample-collection (approximately 2 minutes) is done by the participant and is a non-invasive swab, comparable to the bowel cancer screening test. If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact Dr. Jenna Ziebell (jenna.ziebell@utas.edu.au) for more information.This research is supported by uBiome – Microbiome Grant Initiative and approved by the Tasmania Health and Medical Human Research Ethics Committee (H0017289).
