UMMS Affiliation
Department of Emergency Medicine; Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems; Department of Medicine; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Publication Date
2021-08-17
Document Type
Article Postprint
Disciplines
Immunology and Infectious Disease | Infectious Disease | Medical Microbiology | Microbiology | Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms | Virus Diseases
Abstract
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) caused the pandemic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and now many face the burden of prolonged symptoms-long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms or "long-COVID". Long-COVID is thought to be linked to immune dysregulation due to harmful inflammation, with the exact causes being unknown. Given the role of the microbiome in mediating inflammation, we aimed to examine the relationship between the oral microbiome and the duration of long-COVID symptoms. Tongue swabs were collected from patients presenting with symptoms concerning for COVID-19. Confirmed infections were followed until resolution of all symptoms. Bacterial composition was determined by metagenomic sequencing. We used random forest modeling to identify microbiota and clinical covariates that associated with long-COVID symptoms. Of the patients followed, 63% (17/27) developed ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 and 37% (10/27) went on to long-COVID. Patients with prolonged symptoms had significantly higher abundances of microbiota that induce inflammation, such as members of the genera Prevotella and Veillonella. Of note are species that produce lipopolysaccharides and the similarity of long-COVID patients' oral microbiome to those of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. All together, we our findings suggest an association with the oral microbiome and long-COVID revealing the possibility that dysfunction of the oral microbiome may contribute to this draining disease.
Keywords
Oral Microbiome, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, symptom duration, inflammation
Rights and Permissions
Copyright © 2021, Haran et al. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
DOI of Published Version
10.1172/jci.insight.152346
Source
Haran JP, Bradley E, Zeamer AL, Cincotta L, Salive MC, Dutta P, Mutaawe S, Anya O, Meza-Segura M, Moormann AM, Ward DV, McCormick BA, Bucci V. Inflammation-type dysbiosis of the oral microbiome associates with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms and long-COVID. JCI Insight. 2021 Aug 17:152346. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.152346. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34403368. Link to article on publisher's site
Journal/Book/Conference Title
JCI insight
Related Resources
PubMed ID
34403368
Repository Citation
Haran JP, Bradley E, Zeamer A, Cincotta L, Salive M, Dutta P, Mutaawe S, Anya O, Meza-Segura M, Moormann AM, Ward DV, McCormick BA, Bucci V. (2021). Inflammation-type dysbiosis of the oral microbiome associates with the duration of COVID-19 symptoms and long-COVID. COVID-19 Publications by UMMS Authors. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.152346. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/covid19/296
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
Immunology and Infectious Disease Commons, Infectious Disease Commons, Medical Microbiology Commons, Microbiology Commons, Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms Commons, Virus Diseases Commons