The coronavirus infection is known to have severe side effect on the human body. While several reports have confirmed that coronavirus affects the respiratory system, increases risks of heart disease and diabetes. Covid may cause antibiotic resistant bacterial infection in digestive system.
Now a NIH-funded research team, led by Ken Cadwell and Jonas Schluter at New York University School of Medicine, has found that Covid patients develop imbalances in the gut microbiome which gives antibiotic resistant bacterial infections a scope to be dominant.
It is to be noted that disruption in gut microbiome through foreign pathogen can cause severe ailments in patients, further disrupting their regular life. Human gut system is extremely vast and varied. It consists of an 00 million−100 trillion microorganisms and their genes regulate the gastrointestinal tract.
The researchers investigated how coronavirus affects gut microbes in mice. The study, which was published in Nature Communications on1 November found that Covid patients develop imbalances in the gut microbiome which causes antibiotic resistant bacterial infections.
Therefore a patient who has suffered from coronavirus infection runs the risk of developing secondary bacterial infection in their guts, the research suggested. Covid is known to have affected digestive system.
During the first wave, abdominal pain, diarrhea and loss of appetite were prevalent symptoms of patients who got infected with Covid-19. A study had found that up to 34% of the Covid patients experience diarrhea.
The study showed that Covid causing coronavirus enters the intestinal cells using angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) protein as a receptor. Once inside it replicates and produces copies of its viral protein.
The majority of Covid-19-associated GI symptoms are mild and self-limiting and include anorexia, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain/discomfort, says a report. A cohort study of the blood, stool and patient records of 100 people done by The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong has found that gut microbiome composition was significantly altered in patients with Covid compared with non-Covid individuals irrespective of whether patients had received medication.
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The study found that Covid were depleted in gut bacteria with known immunomodulatory potential, such as Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Eubacterium rectale and several bifidobacterial species. While diarrhea and vomiting are the commonly reported Covid symptoms, another less common sign is gastrointestinal bleeding.
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