According to a new study, the trillions of microorganisms that live in your gut may play a role in how well you handle COVID-19. Similarly, intestinal bacteria may also help to explain the persistent symptoms of the coronavirus infection, known as ‘long COVID’.
It is increasingly understood that the intestinal microbiome – the host of bacteria, archaea and fungi that live in the digestive tract – play a key role in the body’s immune system. In a new study, researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong found that people who become seriously ill and are admitted to hospital with COVID-19 have a different composition of bacteria in their intestines, compared to healthy people. person’s intestinal microbiome may affect the immune system’s response to COVID-19 infection.
Researchers collected 100 poop samples from COVID-19 from hospital patients and compared them with samples taken from 78 people before the COVID-19 pandemic. The team found that their microbiomes differ tremendously. Most importantly, people hospitalized with COVID-19 had far fewer bacterial species known to affect the immune system’s response, such as Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, en Eubacterium rectal. In fact, the levels of these bacteria were linked to the serious illness of the patients. COVID-19 patients also had significantly higher numbers Ruminococcus gnavus, Ruminococcus torques, and Bacteroides dorei.
Low levels of the bacteria linked to the immune system were also found in the COVID-19 patients up to 30 days after removing the virus from their bodies. The researchers argue that this microbial imbalance may help answer why so many people with COVID-19 seem to be suffering “Lank COVID,” namely, fatigue, joint pains and other symptoms lurk long after their recovery.
This study was only an observational study, and although it found a compelling link, it may not be a fixed cause. For example, it is impossible to say for sure whether people hospitalized with COVID-19 had a less diverse microbiome due to other factors, such as whether they smoked.
Nevertheless, another study released this week also weighed on the greater question of how intestinal microbes are linked to disease. As part of the world’s largest in-depth nutrition study, scientists at King’s College London have identified a number of “good” bacterial species linked to a lower risk of certain diseases, and ‘bad’ species linked to an increased risk of disease. . As reported in the journal Physical Medicine, the findings even suggest that the microbiome has a greater association with biomarkers for diseases than other factors, such as genetics.
“We were amazed to see such large, clear groups of what we informally call ‘good’ and ‘bad’ microbes, emerging from our analysis. It’s also exciting to see that microbiologists have so few of these microbes. know that it is not even. still mentioned, “Dr. Nicola Segata, study author, professor and principal investigator of the Computational Metagenomics Lab at the University of Trento in Italy, said in a statement.
Scientists are only now beginning to determine how bacteria in our gut can help and inhibit our immune systems, but it is becoming increasingly clear that human health is intrinsically linked to these microorganisms, not least as far as COVID-19 is concerned. .
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