Abstract: Objective The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of intestinal flora in patients with hepatitis B liver cirrhosis. Methods A total of 103 patients with hepatitis B liver cirrhosis (compensated cirrhosis in 41 and decompensated cirrhosis in 62) and 20 healthy persons were enrolled in our hospital between July 2018 and April 2019, and the sequences of intestinal bacteria were carried out by Illumina Miseq. Results At the genius level, the proportion of Megamonas, Bacteroides and Faecalibacterium in the healthy persons were 14.8%, 11.4% and 9.8%, the proportion of Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium and Megamonas in patients with compensated cirrhosis were 15.2%, 11.5% and 11.2%, while the proportion of Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium and Veillonella in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis were 16.9%, 9.6% and 9.2%, respectively; we used Chao, Shannon and Simpson index to analyze the flora abundance and diversity, and the Chao index in healthy persons was (1250.5 ±283.7), significantly higher than (1111.5±277.1,P＜0.05) in patients with compensated or (910.2 ±369.6, P＜0.05) in decompensated liver cirrhosis, the Shannon index in healthy persons was (3.7±0.6), significantly higher than (3.5 ±0.1,P＜0.05) in patients with compensated or (3.3±0.4,P＜0.05) in decompensated liver cirrhosis, and the Simpson index in the healthy persons was (0.3 ± 0.1), significantly higher than (0.2±0.1, P＜0.05) in patients with compensated or (0.1±0.4, P＜0.05) in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis. Conclusion The intestinal flora abundance and diversity in patients with hepatitis B liver cirrhosis decrease as the progress of the disease, which might have a significant implications in dealing with the patients in clinical practice.

Key words: Liver cirrhosis, Intestinal flora, Species abundance