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Bacteria lurking in the intestines of patients with COVID-19 may play a role in how sick they get from the disease, new research shows.
Although the coronavirus is primarily a respiratory disease, a growing body of evidence suggests the gastrointestinal tract is involved, scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong said.
“Based on several patients interviewed in this study for up to 30 days after SARS-CoV-2 clearance, the gut microbiota is likely to remain significantly altered after recovery from COVID-19,” they said. (iStock)
The team studied samples from 100 patients treated at two Hong Kong hospitals to see how the so-called microbiome in the digestive system could affect recovery of the deadly virus.
“The composition of the gut microbiome was significantly altered in patients with COVID-19 compared to non-COVID-19 individuals, whether or not the patients received medication,” they wrote in the British Medical Journal publication. , Gut.
“Based on several patients interviewed in this study for up to 30 days after SARS-CoV-2 clearance, the gut microbiota is likely to remain significantly altered after recovery from COVID-19,” they said.
The researchers said that patients with severe disease have elevated blood plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory markers – and that there is “substantial involvement” of the gastrointestinal tract during infection, given ” the altered composition of the gut microbiota in subjects infected with SARS-CoV-2 “.
Cytokines, which are molecules that allow your cells to talk to each other, play a crucial role in healthy immune function. However, too many cytokines can lead to what is called a “cytokine storm”.
“These results suggest that the composition of the gut microbiota is associated with the magnitude of the immune response to COVID-19 and subsequent tissue damage and therefore may play a role in regulating the severity of the disease,” they wrote .
Scientists also found that since a small subset of patients exhibited gut microbiota dysbiosis, or imbalance, even 30 days after recovery, this could be a potential explanation for the persistence of certain symptoms in what the we call a long COVID.
This article originally appeared on NYPost.com.
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