Research suggests that an imbalance of microbes in the gut may increase the chance of developing a harder Covid-19 and may also put people at risk for the post viral syndrome known as ‘Covid’. long ‘.
We now know that the type and numbers of microbes found in the gut – our gut midge – can play an important part in our ability to fight a range of diseases including infections. , autoimmune diseases, and cancer. It even plays a role in susceptibility to mental illness.
Since the onset of the pandemic, there has been a significant difference in the response that people receive when they are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Most people have only moderate to severe symptoms, but some (around 14%) have severe symptoms that require hospital admission.
While a number of factors, such as age, gender, ethnicity and the presence of other medical conditions, are known to affect a person’s risk for a worse experience with Covid-19, there are still serious issues that difficult to explain.
One thing that distinguishes true Covid-19 patients who are hospitalized from those with a milder case of the disease, is an overdose of their immune systems to infection with SARS- CoV-2. Basically, the body is affected by the severity of the disease, but it is like someone who goes into anaphylactic shock after a severe allergic reaction. something.
This reaction, called a cytokine storm, is responsible for many of the symptoms seen in severe Covid-19 patients such as respiratory problems and damage to various organs in the body as a result of excessive inflammation.
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Some species of microbes in the gut are thought to have a protective effect on the immune system. Professor Siew Chien Ng from the University of China in Hong Kong is an expert on the microbiome. She and her colleagues decided to test the theory that an unhealthy gut microorganism could increase the severity of Covid-19 symptoms.
They tested fecal samples from 100 patients with confirmed Covid-19 and symptoms ranging from mild to severe to examine the number and types of microbes in their legs. They then compared these with samples taken from 78 people without Covid-19 who participated in a mosquito study before the onset of the pandemic.
This showed that there was a significant difference in gut microbial content between those with Covid-19 and those without. Patients with more severe disease had more imbalance in their gut microbiome compared with those with only mild symptoms.
“They do not have specific bacteria that are known to regulate our immunity,” says Ng. “As a result, they have increased inflammatory cytokines and other blood markers of thin tissue leading to real results. “
After paying attention to factors that may affect gut bacteria such as antibiotic use and age, lower numbers of two types of bacteria – Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bifidobacterium bifidum – they were strongly associated with harder Covid-19 signals.
The researchers also took blood samples from the people in the study and found that levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood went up as levels of these beneficial bacteria went down.
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“These species are key bacteria known for regulating a good immune response… We believe these important bacteria may suppress inflammatory responses in Covid-19, in particular the cytokine storm that triggered causes multi-organ damage, ”explained Ng.
To determine if this imbalance persisted over time, the researchers followed some of the patients in the study for up to 30 days after recovering from their disease. They found that levels of beneficial bacteria as F. prausnitzii and B. bifidum and Eubacterium rectale they remained low in these people.
More evidence is needed, but Ng and her team believe that this persistent microbiome imbalance may contribute to the symptoms known as ‘long-term Covid’ seen in some people after recovering from an infection with SARS-CoV-2. “We argue that the lack of these beneficial species could contribute to… multisystem inflammatory syndromes following viral clearance. ”
The results of this study need to be confirmed in other studies, as this study was observational and many factors can influence the gut microbe. But they are certainly hairy and agree with other studies showing that levels of such bacteria can affect the health of a person ‘s immune system.
Ng and her colleagues are now investigating whether the replacement of these beneficial bacteria would slow a person’s response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and possibly shorten their recovery time.
“We have developed a unique oral microbiome formula with micro-
capture technology to increase the stability and size of live bacteria that target the imbalance of microorganisms associated with immunodeficiency, ”she explained.
“Compared to patients on routine care, our pilot clinical study showed that more Covid-19 patients who received our microbiome immunosuppressive formula achieved full symptom resolution, showing significantly fewer pro-inflammatory symptoms in their blood, have increased favorable bacteria in their feces; and developed neutral antibodies. ”