COVID-19 can have a long-lasting impact on the composition of your gut microbiome

Targeted manipulation of the microbiome to promote microbial diversity could be an important strategy to treat post-covid syndrome (long COVID-19) and to accelerate recovery. So claims a new study published in Gut, one of the leading scientific journals.

What is already known about this topic

"Long COVID" is the term used to describe the symptoms of COVID-19 post-covid syndrome that persist for weeks or months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. A recent study has shown that the gutmicrobiomeof people who have recovered from COVID-19 differs from that of an uninfected person. But although gut dysbiosis may be associated with the "long COVID," few studies have looked at how gut microbes recover after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

What this research adds

By monitoring changes in the composition of the gutmicrobiotain 30 people with COVID-19 and 30 uninfected individuals, researchers found that the richness of the microbiota did not recover to normal levels six months after recovery from COVID-19. People who had lowermicrobiome richnesssix months after recovery from the disease hadworse lung function than controls. These people also demonstrated increased disease severity during the acute phase, suggesting a close association between the inflammatory response and gut dysbiosis in the COVID-19 study.

Conclusion

Although larger studies are needed to confirm the findings, the results support the idea that changes in the composition of the gut microbiota are associated with recovery from COVID-19. The researchers suggest that promoting microbial diversity by targeted manipulation of the gutmicrobiome could help speed recovery.

"Long COVID" is the term used to describe the symptoms of COVID-19 that persist for weeks or months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. They are also known as post-COVID syndrome. A new study now shows that the diversity and abundance of bacteria has not been restored to normal levels even six months after recovery from the disease.

The findings, published in the prestigious scientific journal Gut, support the idea that changes in the composition of the gut microbiota are linked to overcoming COVID-19. Researchers say that targeted promotion of microbial diversity by manipulating the gut microbiome could help speed your recovery.

A recent study showed that the gut microbiome of people who recovered from COVID-19 differed from that of an uninfected person, both in occupancy and diversity. But although gut dysbiosis may be associated with "post-covid syndrome," few studies have looked at how gut microbes recover after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

To address this question, Lanjuan Li and colleagues at Zhejiang University monitored changes in the composition of the gut microbiota in 30 people with COVID-19 and 30 uninfected individuals.

Long-term effects of COVID-19

The researchers collected stool samples at three time points: during the acute phase of the disease (from symptom onset to viral clearance-complete clearance of the virus), convalescence (from viral clearance to two weeks after hospital discharge), and post-convalescence (six months after hospital discharge) .

The team found that microbiome diversity was not restored to normal levels six months after recovery from COVID-19. Individuals with reduced gut bacteria during the post-recovery phase were significantly more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit during the acute phase of their illness.

The researchers found that six months after hospital discharge, low gut bacterial abundance and diversity was also associated with reduced lung function. The association between lower abundance and diversity of gut bacteria during post-recovery and increased disease severity during the acute phase suggests that inflammatory responses are related to gut dysbiosis in COVID-19 disease.

Microbiome recovery after COVID-19

Previous studies have found lung and heart abnormalities in individuals who recovered from COVID-19. Researchers speculate that a reduction in the diversity and representation of their gut microbiome may be responsible for some of the long-term health effects of COVID-19.

"The gut microbiota is involved in the pathogenesis of acute lung injury through several potential mechanisms, including direct translocation of bacteria from the gut to the lungs and the effects of microbe-related metabolites on immune modulation," the researchers say. This is consistent with the observation that patients with lower microbiome abundance and diversity had impaired lung function after recovery, they add.

"Given the relatively small sample size, our results need to be confirmed in further studies with larger sample sizes," the researchers note. However, the findings suggest that gut dysbiosis is associated with overcoming COVID-19. "Targeted modification of the microbiome to promote microbial diversity could be an important strategy to treat post-covid syndrome (long COVID-19) and to accelerate recovery," the authors say.

Author. Norbert Bomba

Sources:
https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2021/04/07/gutjnl-2021-324090
https://microbiomepost.com/covid-19-could-have-long-lasting-impacts-on-gut-microbiota-composition/