According to new research, the bacteria lurking in the gut of COVID-19 may play a role in how sick they become.
Although the coronavirus is primarily a respiratory disease, there is growing evidence to suggest that the GIT is involved, scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said.
The team studied samples from 100 patients treated in two Hong Kong hospitals to see how the so-called microbiome in the digestive system can affect the recovery of the deadly bug.
“The composition of the intestinal microbiome has changed significantly in patients with COVID-19 compared to non-COVID-19 individuals, regardless of whether patients received medication,” they write in the Gut publication of the British Medical Journal.
“Based on several patients interviewed in this study up to 30 days after clearing SARS-CoV-2, the intestinal microbiota is likely to change significantly after COVID-19 recovery,” they said.
The researchers said that patients with serious diseases show high blood plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory markers – and that there is a “significant involvement” of the GIT during infection, given the “altered intestinal microbiota composition at SARS-CoV -2-infected subjects. “
Cytokines, which are molecules that enable your cells to talk to each other, play an important role in healthy immune function. However, too many cytokines can lead to what is known as a ‘cytokine storm’.
“These results suggest that the composition of the intestinal microbiota is associated with the extent of the immune response to COVID-19 and subsequent tissue damage and thus may play a role in regulating the severity of diseases,” they wrote.
The scientists also found that because a small subgroup of patients shows intestinal microbiota dysbiosis, or imbalance, even 30 days after recovery, there may be a possible explanation for why some symptoms persist into what is known as long-term COVID.