Make-up of gut microbiome may be linked to long COVID risk

Medical Xpress / British Medical Journal / Gut ^ | Jan. 25, 2022 | Qi Su, Yun Kit Yeoh et al

[ConservativeMind]

The gut microbiome may be linked to a person developing 'long COVID' many months after initial infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 infection.

A growing body of evidence has implicated the gut microbiome—the trillions of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that inhabit the digestive tract—in COVID-19 severity.

And given that the gut has a major role in immunity, a disordered immune response to COVID-19 infection, induced by resident microbes, may affect the recovery process too.

While initial viral load wasn't associated with long COVID, their gut microbiome differed from that of patients without long COVID and those who hadn't had COVID-19 infection.

These patients had a less diverse and abundant microbiome; the gut microbiome of patients who didn't develop long COVID was similar to that of those who hadn't had COVID-19.

Among the bacteria species found in patients with long COVID, 28 were reduced and 14 were enriched both at hospital admission and at 3 and 6 months after hospital discharge.

At 6 months, patients with long COVID had significantly fewer 'friendly' F. prausnitzii, and Blautia obeum and a greater abundance of 'unfriendly' Ruminococcus gnavus and Bacteroides vulgatus than people who hadn't had COVID-19.

The researchers then looked at the make-up of the gut microbiome to see if was associated with different categories of long COVID symptoms: respiratory; neuropsychiatric; gastrointestinal; skin; musculoskeletal; and fatigue.

Eighty one bacterial species were associated with different categories of long COVID and many species were associated with more than two categories of persistent symptoms.

For example, at 6 months, persistent respiratory symptoms were strongly associated with Streptococcus anginosus, Streptococcus vestibularis, Streptococcus gordonii and Clostridium disporicum.

And several species known to boost immunity, including Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, F. prausnitzii, R. inulinivorans and Roseburia hominis, were depleted in those with long COVID at 6 months.

[ConservativeMind]

It would seem a simple, harmless thing to supplement with other probiotic cultures for a while, using probiotics, kefir, and yogurts, and see if it helped.

[ConservativeMind]

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[ConservativeMind]

The list of symptoms these bacterial changes can make is back on the study write up page, but it includes “loss of taste and smell” and “blurred vision,” among others.

[PMAS]

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[logi_cal869]

I have argued since my March 2020 bout that this virus goes latent in the gut, perhaps longer for some people; any research supporting it as a cause of ‘long COVID’ would shock me not in the least.

[Faith65]

Thanks!

Looks like more info showing yogurt and kefir would help in recovery.

[Taffini]

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