An imbalance of fungi in the gut may be a contributing factor to the excessive inflammation observed in individuals with severe COVID-19 or those experiencing long-lasting symptoms of the disease, commonly known as long COVID. A recent study revealed that individuals with severe COVID-19 had higher levels of a specific fungus capable of triggering the immune system and causing long-term changes.
The findings, published on October 23 in Nature Immunology, suggest that antifungal treatment could potentially offer relief to critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Martin Hönigl, a clinical mycology researcher at the Medical University of Graz in Austria, who was not involved in the study, points out that severe inflammation is a driving force behind the severity of the disease. He believes this research introduces a potential mechanism for inflammation-driven disease that may have previously been overlooked. a contributing factor
Trillions of microorganisms live in and on our bodies, helping us to digest food, protecting us from harmful pathogens and more. Although much of the microbiome consists of bacteria, past research has shown that the fungal portion — the mycobiota — interacts with the immune system, too2.
Previous studies have shown that many people with COVID-19 have guts with altered microbial make-ups and disrupted protective barriers, which could allow pathogens to enter the blood3,4. And some individuals critically ill with COVID-19 have contracted dangerous fungal infections in their lungs5.
Immunologist Iliyan Iliev, along with his colleagues at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, aimed to delve deeper into the connection between the mycobiota (the fungal community in the body) and COVID-19. To investigate this, the researchers analyzed the blood of 91 individuals who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in 2020. Among this group, nearly three-quarters of the patients were classified as having severe COVID-19, requiring more than six liters of supplementary oxygen per minute or invasive mechanical ventilation. The remaining individuals had moderate or mild forms of the disease.