Three years after the COVID pandemic, the medical community, and the general population are well aware that COVID attacks or creates an unsuitable environment for all organs of the body. However, in a turn of events, a recent study has shared how the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the body may boost certain gut fungi, which in turn provides a lasting positive impact on immunity.
The study conducted by researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine found that in severe cases of COVID-19, fungal strains of Candida Albicians (CA), a yeast, are amplified in the intestinal tract, triggering an upsurge in immune cells.
Impact Of COVID On The Gut
Publishing their findings in the journal Nature Immunology, the study elucidated that even after a year of recovering from the SARS-CoV-2 infection, the patients who participated in the study exhibited a heightened immune response and immune memory against CA.
One of the scientists, Dr Iliyan Iliev, Immunologist and Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell University, said, "Severe and long COVID-19 were not thought to involve fungal blooms in the intestines that, in addition to the virus, can impact a patient's immunity.”
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The team looked at certain cells in the blood, the ones that help fight infections, in people with severe COVID-19. They found that these cells were behaving differently in people who had CA. When the researchers introduced the same fungus from long-COVID patients into mice, it caused more inflammation in their lungs, indicating a sturdy immune response. This inflammation could be easily reduced using generic antifungal treatment or medication.
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Numerous research studies have testified that long-COVID is named so, because post a severe infection of SARS-CoV-2, the patients exhibited symptoms of and damage from COVID-19 for years after their body was clear of the infection. This current study also holds this aspect of long-term COVID as the cause of why anti-fungal antibodies persisted for a year after the COVID infection.
Speaking about the study’s results, Dr Iliev shared that although the study doesn't have immediate implications on finding better treatment for long-COVID, it nonetheless, suggests a new avenue to tailor therapy. In simpler terms, this research suggests that when there's an issue with the gut microbiome, it might make the immune system more active during diseases like severe COVID-19, and thus treatments to target this fungus as a way to help with the symptoms that last a long time, can be created.
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