Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 16:12:614522.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.614522. eCollection 2021.

Interrogating the Impact of Intestinal Parasite-Microbiome on Pathogenesis of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa

Dawit Wolday  1 , Geremew Tasew  2 , Wondwossen Amogne  3 , Britta Urban  4 , Henk Dfh Schallig  5 , Vanessa Harris  5   6 , Tobias F Rinke de Wit  6   7
Affiliations

Interrogating the Impact of Intestinal Parasite-Microbiome on Pathogenesis of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa

Dawit Wolday et al. Front Microbiol. .
No abstract available

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; helminths; hyperinflammation; microbiome; parasites; pathogenesis; protozoa.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer SB declared a past co-authorship with the author DW to the handling editor.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Impact of parasite-driven microbiome diversity and composition on COVID-19 severity. Certain protozoa, such as commensal Entamoeba spp. and cryptosporidium spp. and helminths that enrich the gut with the so called beneficial microbiome profile and with dominant TH2 and Treg pre-existing condition, might mute hyperactive immune response upon infection with SARS-CoV-2. In this milieu, SARS-CoV-2 replication is controlled. Another possibility is that TH2 and Treg responses might suppress anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunity and thereby hasten COVID-19 severity. On the contrary, gut dysbiosis as a result of some pathogenic protozoa, such as Entamoeba histolytica or helminths, or patients without parasite coinfection with underlying preexisting THl immune response might facilitate cytokine storm and aggravate COVID-19 severity. In patients with gut dysbiosis, SARS-CoV-2 replication is significantly increased. AAM/M2 Mø, alternatively-activated macrophages; Breg, regulatory B cell; ES, Excretory/Secretory parasite product; IFN, interferon; IL, interleukin; IP, interferon-γ-inducible protein; MCP, monocyte chemoattractant protein; MIP, macrophage inhibitory protein; Mø, macrophage; RBC, red blood cells; TH, T helper lymphocytes; TGF, transformation growth factor; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; Treg, regulatory T cell.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ackermann M., Verleden S. E., Kuehnel M., Haverich A., Welte T., Laenger F., et al. . (2020). Pulmonary vascular endothelialitis, thrombosis, and angiogenesis in COVID-19. N. Engl. J. Med. 383, 120–128. 10.1056/NEJMoa2015432 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arpaia N., Campbell C., Fan X., Dikiy S., van der Veeken J., deRoos P., et al. . (2013). Metabolites produced by commensal bacteria promote peripheral regulatory T-cell generation. Nature 504, 451–455. 10.1038/nature12726 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Audebert C., Even G., Cian A., Safadi El D., Certad G., Delhaes L., et al. . (2016). Colonization with the enteric protozoa Blastocystis is associated with increased diversity of human gut bacterial microbiota. Sci. Rep. 6:25255. 10.1038/srep25255 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Beatty J. K., Akierman S. V., Motta J. P., Muise S., Workentine M. L., Harrison J. J., et al. . (2017). Giardia duodenalis induces pathogenic dysbiosis of human intestinal microbiota biofilms. Intern. J. Parasitol. 47, 311–326. 10.1016/j.ijpara.2016.11.010 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Belkaid Y., Harrison O. J. (2017). Homeostatic immunity and the microbiota. Immunity 46, 562–576. 10.1016/j.immuni.2017.04.008 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources