A randomized controlled trial in Hong Kong finds that the synbiotic drug SIM01 relieves multiple symptoms of long COVID, or post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.
At six months, interviewers administered a 14-item symptom questionnaire to participants and collected blood and fecal samples to assess changes in the gut microbiome and blood cytokines.
Fecal metagenomic analyses showed that the gut microbiome was more diverse, including more short-chain acid-producing bacteria and fewer genes related to antibiotic resistance, at six months than at baseline in SIM01 recipients but not the placebo group.
Correlation of microbial changes with symptoms showed that relief of specific symptoms was tied to distinct compositional and functional changes in the microbiome.
Lack of universal long COVID symptom assessment tool.
In a related commentary, Betty Raman, DPhil, and Maheshi Ramasamy, DPhil, both of the University of Oxford, said that emerging evidence points to the importance of the gut microbiome in the development of long COVID, with a disruption in microbial balance, or gut dysbiosis, in some patients.
Study limitations such as the lack of a universally accepted long COVID symptom assessment tool and a reliance on subjective symptom reports complicates interpretation of the findings.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12-experimental-drug-gut-microbiome-covid.html
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