To the editor.
COVID-19, a novel infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 first emerged on November 17, 2019 had a high fatality rate and affected millions of people around the world [1]. The involvement of lung gut axis and the identification of viral RNA in feces of infected patients has drawn attention to a possible fecal-oral transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 [2].
Recent research shows a potential connection between long-term COVID-19 and dysbiosis of the gut flora. Long COVID-19 infection or post-acute COVID-19 syndrome is seen after weeks or months after the initial COVID-19 infection is characterized by complications and lingering symptoms such as fatigue, muscle weakness, and sleeplessness. Up to 3 out of 4 individuals report at least one symptom six months after recovering from COVID-19 infection, making it a relatively prevalent condition [3]. Long COVID may develop as a result of a heightened immune response, cell damage, or physiological effects of COVID-19 infection.
The gut microbiome, the billions of bacteria, fungus, and other microbes that live in the digestive tract, has been linked to COVID-19 severity and may possibly have an impact on the healing process, according to a growing body of research [4]. Researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Center for Gut Microbiota Research discovered a clue in 2020.
When compared to healthy controls, persons with COVID-19 had unique changes in their gut microbiota, or the population of bacteria that live in their gut [5]. Early reports from Wuhan suggested that 2–10% of COVID-19 patients experienced gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, such as diarrhoea, however a recent meta-analysis found that up to 20% of patients with COVID-19 had GI symptoms. SARS-CoV-2 virus was found in anal swabs and stool samples in over half of COVID-19 patients, suggesting that the digestive tract could be an extrapulmonary location for virus multiplication and activity [6, 7].
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Source: Kaushik P, Kumari M, Singh NK, Suri A. The role of gut microbiota in etiopathogenesis of long COVID syndrome. Horm Mol Biol Clin Investig. 2022 Nov 1. doi: 10.1515/hmbci-2022-0079. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36317311. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/hmbci-2022-0079/html (Full text)