A Pro-Inflammatory Gut Microbiome Characterizes SARS-CoV-2 Infected Patients...., 2021, Reinold et al

Full title: A Pro-Inflammatory Gut Microbiome Characterizes SARS-CoV-2 Infected Patients and a Reduction in the Connectivity of an Anti-Inflammatory Bacterial Network Associates With Severe COVID-19

The gut microbiota contributes to maintaining human health and regulating immune responses. Severe COVID-19 illness is associated with a dysregulated pro-inflammatory immune response. The effect of SARS-CoV-2 on altering the gut microbiome and the relevance of the gut microbiome on COVID-19 severity needs to be clarified.

In this prospective study, we analyzed the gut microbiome of 212 patients of a tertiary care hospital (117 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and 95 SARS-CoV-2 negative patients) using 16S rRNA gene sequencing of the V3-V4 region. Inflammatory markers and immune cells were quantified from blood. The gut microbiome in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients was characterized by a lower bacterial richness and distinct differences in the gut microbiome composition, including an enrichment of the phyla Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes and a decrease of Actinobacteria compared to SARS-CoV-2 negative patients. The relative abundance of several genera including Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus and Collinsella was lower in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients while the abundance of Bacteroides and Enterobacteriaceae was increased. Higher pro-inflammatory blood markers and a lower CD8+ T cell number characterized patients with severe COVID-19 illness.

The gut microbiome of patients with severe/critical COVID-19 exhibited a lower abundance of butyrate-producing genera Faecalibacterium and Roseburia and a reduction in the connectivity of a distinct network of anti-inflammatory genera that was observed in patients with mild COVID-19 illness and in SARS-CoV-2 negative patients. Dysbiosis of the gut microbiome associated with a pro-inflammatory signature may contribute to the hyperinflammatory immune response characterizing severe COVID-19 illness.

Open access, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2021.747816/full

 

So, does drinking kefir help protect me?
Or do ingested bacteria have little effect on gut microbiome?
Hmmm. Perhaps I need to know more about the bacteria found in kefir!

 

I found this.

The Microbiota and Health Promoting Characteristics of the Fermented Beverage Kefir
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00647/full

Perhaps no great benefit there? Hmmm

 

Also - would be interesting to know whether the differences observed in the Covid paper were downstream effects, or whether those differences existed prior to infection.

 

Gut microbiome seems quite du monde at present.
The man who has been promoting the importance of gut microbiome for years is Ken Lassasen with his site "CFS Remission". Packed full of information and speculation on all things gut .
I don't think Kefir did anything for me over the year I slurped it and in the end had to give it up as I developed lactose intolerance

 

It's amazing that we have known for years just how much immunology is going on in the gut, and still most digestion problems got psychologized, continuing to reject the full implications of the germ theory of disease. This will make people cringe with hindsight but right now it seems that the cringing is happening because people are blinded by the brilliance of this mind-body junk they made up instead.

Germs are very good at hiding. It's what they do. And they can't exist without interfering with cellular processes, viruses are kind of famous for this. This isn't even especially hard, any intro to immunology basically provides all the knowledge needed, it only needs to be matched with common sense.