Severe (Long) COVID linked to Fungal Microbiome
People with severe COVID-19 produced about four times as many antibodies against three fungal species commonly found in the gut, including the yeast Candida albicans. A high prevalence of antibodies suggests that these people had elevated amounts of those fungi. Faecal samples collected in early 2021 from 10 people with COVID-19 also showed that they had higher overall levels of gut fungi, especially of Candidaspecies, relative to 10 healthy individuals. For these people, the abundance of Candida was positively correlated with disease severity. The presence of some fungal species, C. albicans in particular, has been shown to activate the immune system6.
In a subset of people with severe COVID-19, the number of antibodies against C. albicans in their blood was linked to the number of immune cells called neutrophils, which can trigger inflammation.
When the researchers infected mice with C. albicans extracted from people with severe COVID-19, and then infected them with SARS-CoV-2, they observed that more neutrophils invaded the animals’ lungs and activated an inflammatory response than in mice with SARS-CoV-2 alone. If they gave these mice an antifungal drug, it lowered the number and activity of neutrophils.
LONG-COVID THEORIES
The study also found that people with severe COVID-19 continued to have raised levels of antibodies against C. albicans and neutrophil precursors primed to counter fungi long after they had recovered from the disease — up to one year later in some people. These factors hint that mycobiota changes during a SARS-CoV-2 infection could contribute to inflammation associated with long COVID.
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Dr. Jeffrey S. McCombs, DC, is founder of the McCombs Center for Health, the Candida Plan, the Candida Library, and author of Lifeforce, The Everything Candida Book, and The Everything Guide to Autoimmune Diets. Check out our podcast, Candida Diet Tips Recipes, and Insights on Apple Podcast,Spotify, Buzzsprout, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and Alexa Flash Briefings.Contact Us - (888) 236-7780, or support@candidaplan.com
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