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The trillions of microorganisms that live in your gut may play a role in your ability to handle COVID-19, according to a new study. Likewise, intestinal bacteria could also help explain the lingering symptoms of the coronavirus infection known as ‘long COVID’.
It is increasingly well understood that the gut microbiome – the army of bacteria, archaea and fungi that live in the digestive tract – plays a key role in the body’s immune system. In one new study, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong have found that people who are critically ill and hospitalized with COVID-19 have a different bacterial makeup than healthy people. A person’s gut microbiome can affect the immune system’s response to COVID-19 infection.
Researchers collected 100 poop samples from hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and compared them to samples taken from 78 people before the COVID-19 pandemic. The team found that their microbiome was very different. Perhaps more importantly, people hospitalized for COVID-19 had far fewer species of bacteria known to influence the immune system response, such as Bifidobacterium, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, and Rectal eubacterium. In fact, the levels of these bacteria were linked to the severity of the patients’ illness. COVID-19 patients also had a significantly higher number of Ruminococcus gnavus, Ruminococcus couples, and Bacteroides dorei.
Low levels of bacteria linked to the immune system have also been found in COVID-19 patients for up to 30 days after clearing the virus from their bodies. Researchers say this microbial imbalance could help explain why so many people with COVID-19 appear to be suffering from “Long COVID,” namely fatigue, joint pain and other symptoms that are hidden long after they have healed.
This study was only an observational study, and while it found a compelling link, it cannot firmly establish a cause. It’s impossible to say for sure, for example, whether people hospitalized with COVID-19 had a less diverse microbiome due to other factors, such as smoking.
Nonetheless, another study published this week also weighed in on the larger question of the link between gut microbes and disease. In the world’s largest in-depth nutritional study, scientists at King’s College London have identified a number of “good” species of bacteria that are linked to a lower risk of certain diseases and “bad” species. at an increased risk of diseases. As reported in the newspaper Nature medicine, the results even suggest that the microbiome is more associated with disease biomarkers than other factors, such as genetics.
“We were surprised to see such large and clear clusters of what we informally call the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ germs emerging from our analysis. It’s also exciting that microbiologists know so little about many of these microbes that they don’t even know. named again, “Dr. Nicola Segata, author of the study, professor and principal investigator of the Computational Metagenomics Lab at the University of Trento in Italy, said in a statement.
Scientists are only just beginning to understand how bacteria in our gut can help and hinder our immune system, but it is becoming increasingly clear that human health is intrinsically linked to these microorganisms, especially when it comes to COVID. -19.
For more information on COVID-19, check out the IFLScience COVID-19 hub where you can follow the current status of the pandemic, the progress of vaccine development, and other information on the disease.
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