COVID-19 AND PROBIOTICS: A (SUCCESSFUL) CLINICAL STUDY

This is a recent clinical trial using probiotics to treat patients with severe COVID. The trial involved 70 hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19. Most had fevers, needed non-invasive oxygen treatments (i.e. needed oxygen but were not intubated), and had more than 50% lung involvement confirmed by CT scan. Many also had GI symptoms-mainly diarrhea. The authors point out that even in acute COVID, according to some research, only 10% of people show coronavirus DNA in blood, but almost 50% show the DNA in stool, and transmission via stool is possible. One Chinese study also showed differences in the bacterial microbiomes of those who died from COVID: they had significantly lower levels of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacilli (two of the main kinds of symbiotic bacteria in people) as well as an increase in pathogenic bacteria. 28 of the subjects in the study received a probiotic (more on that in a moment) while 42 did not. Other than the probiotic, all were treated with the same medicine regimen. The results are astounding: 1. All the patients who received the probiotic had diarrhea resolve completely within 7 days, although many had the diarrhea resolve completely within 24 hours and most, within 3 days. Their other symptoms also began to resolve more quickly – by the 2nd day of treatment. 2. In contrast, less than half the patients who did not receive the probiotics had their diarrhea resolve within 7 days! 3. The researchers "…observed a significant difference" in respiratory outcomes between the two groups. After 7 days of treatment, there was an 8-fold decreased risk to evolve to respiratory failure. 4. All the patients treated with probiotic survived COVID and none required ventilators, as opposed to the untreated group which had patients transferred to the ICU and/or die at rates in line with what Italy was experiencing at the time of the trial (late March-early April): "Results evidenced a worse survival, as well as, a higher risk of transfer to an intensive resuscitation for the patient not supplemented with bacteriotherapy respective to the supplemented one." They hypothesize that the reason for the incredible success of probiotics against the virus has to do with both the metabolites (like short chain fatty acids) produced by good bacterial flora and that, "…in patients infected by COVID-19, a bacterial formulation with the 'appropriate' biochemical and immunological profile might trigger several protective biological functions." The conclusion of this paper: "Oral bacteriotherapy has shown a statically significant impact on the clinical conditions of COVID-19 patients." https://biomebuzz.com/2020/08/06/covid-19-and-probiotics-a-successful-clinical-study/