Microbiome & COVID

No surprise here! 

Last this Karl Friston used the phrase "Immunological Dark Matter" - as a humble euphemism for stuff we don't know about our immunity (an explanation for Germany's less infection rate). 

A healthy microbiome falls under one of many factors contributing to that immunological dark matter (and important to understand is NOT the only one but one of the many). 

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has been declared a pandemic, has exhibited a wide range of severity worldwide. Although this global variation is largely affected by socio-medical situations in each country, there is also high individual-level variation attributable to elderliness and certain underlying medical conditions, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. As both elderliness and the aforementioned chronic conditions are often associated with an altered gut microbiota, resulting in disrupted gut barrier integrity, and gut symptoms have consistently been associated with more severe illness in COVID-19 patients, it is possible that dysfunction of the gut as a whole influences COVID-19 severity. This article summarizes the accumulating evidence that supports the hypothesis that an altered gut microbiota and its associated leaky gut may contribute to the onset of gastrointestinal symptoms and occasionally to additional multiorgan complications that may lead to severe illness by allowing leakage of the causative coronavirus into the circulatory system.

- Full paper by Heenam Stanley Kim here