Linking the gut microbiota to persistent symptoms in survivors of COVID-19 after discharge

• Published in: The journal of microbiology Vol. 59; no. 10; pp. 941 - 948
• Main Authors: Zhou, Yaya, Zhang, Jianchu, Zhang, Dongmei, Ma, Wan-Li, Wang, Xiaorong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Microbiological Society of Korea 01.10.2021; Springer Nature B.V; 한국미생물학회
• Subjects: Abundance; Anorexia; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Chest; Coliforms; Coronaviruses; Cough; COVID-19; Eating disorders; Fatigue; Feces; Gene sequencing; Immune response; Intestinal flora; Intestinal microflora; Life Sciences; Medical personnel; Microbial Pathogenesis and Host-Microbe Interaction; Microbiology; Microbiota; Myalgia; Opportunist infection; Pathogens; Probiotics; Relative abundance; rRNA 16S; Signs and symptoms; Survival; Symptoms; Tightness; Viral diseases; 생물학; COVID-19; recovered healthcare workers; symptoms after discharge; gut microbiota
• ISSN: 1225-8873; 1976-3794
• DOI: 10.1007/s12275-021-1206-5

Several follow-up studies have found that COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) patients had persistent symptoms after discharge. Gut microbiota play an important role in human health and immune responses. Therefore, this study investigated the gut microbiota of recovered COVID-19 patients and the correlations between gut microbiota and persistent symptoms after discharge. Stool samples were collected from 15 recovered healthcare workers (HCWs) with COVID-19 at three months after discharge, in addition, stool samples were collected from 14 healthy controls (HCs) to perform 16S rRNA gene sequencing between May and July 2020. Compared with HCs, recovered HCWs had reduced bacterial diversity at three months after discharge, with a significantly higher relative abundance of opportunistic pathogens, and a significantly lower relative abundance of beneficial bacteria. In addition, Escherichia unclassified was positively correlated with persistent symptoms at three months after discharge, including fatigue (r = 0.567, p = 0.028), chest tightness after activity (r = 0.687, p = 0.005), and myalgia (r = 0.523, p = 0.045). Intestinibacter bartlettii was positively correlated with anorexia (r = 0.629, p = 0.012) and fatigue (r = 0.545, p = 0.036). However, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii was negatively correlated with chest tightness after activity (r = -0.591, p = 0.02), and Intestinimonas butyriciproducens was negatively correlated with cough (r = -0.635, p = 0.011). In conclusion, the gut microbiota of recovered HCWs with COVID-19 at three months after discharge was different from that of HCs, and altered gut microbiota was correlated with persistent symptoms after discharge, highlighting that gut microbiota may play an important role in the recovery of patients with COVID-19.