FMT: A Potential Therapeutic and Rehabilitative Intervention for COVID-19
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DOI

10.26689/jcnr.v4i6.1616

Submitted : 2020-10-27
Accepted : 2020-11-11
Published : 2020-11-26

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was outbreak in December 2019 Wuhan, China, has spread to more than 100 countries. In addition to respiratory symptoms, COVID-19 can also cause some digestive symptoms such as nausea and diarrhea. As a variety of respiratory diseases which are associated with a dysbiosis in both airway microbiota and the intestinal microbiota, COVID-19 may cause digestive symptoms through a constant cross-talk between the system which is known as the Gut-Lung Axis. Additionally, lymphopenia and hypercytokinemia were also common in COVID-19 patients which suggest that COVID-19 could compromise the immune system. Given the fact that gut microbiota not only could maintain immune homeostasis and immune responses at local mucosal surfaces, but also has distal protective effects and protect against respiratory virus. FMT is an effective way to enhance immunity and would be a potential therapy for individuals with viral infection. However, currently no direct clinical evidence proved that modulation of gut microbiota has the therapeutic role in treatment of COVID-19, from the perspective of microbiota and immunity after viral infection, we speculate that targeting gut microbiota might be a new therapeutic option or at least adjuvant therapeutic choice. In this Personal View, we describe the five aspects: COVID-19 and compromised immunity system, Microbiota, immune system and viral infection, FMT, immunity and virus infection, potential application of FMT in the treatment of COVID-19.