The role of probiotics in coronavirus disease-19 infection in Wuhan: A retrospective study of 311 severe patients
Open accessAbstract
Purpose Researches revealed that probiotics maybe a potential strategy for COVID-19, whereas there is a lack of related evidence. This study aims to analyze the role of probiotics on severe COVID-19 patients.Methods In the current retrospective single-center study, we collected data of 311 consecutive severe patients with confirmed COVID-19 in Wuhan Union Hospital from Feb 3rd to Feb 20th, 2020. Epidemiological, clinical and medication characteristics were compared and analyzed between patients with or without probiotics.Results In total, 93 of the 123 patients (75.61%) who were treated with probiotics survived to hospital discharge with the median inpatient day of 32 days and mean virus clearance time of 23 days, which were significantly longer than those of patients without probiotics. There were no bias in laboratory parameters, except for IL-6 and ESR, which were significantly higher in patients treated probiotics. We tracked the dynamic changes of 8 selected laboratory parameters (IL-6, CRP, total T lymphocytes, NK cells, B lymphocyte, CD4 + T cells, CD8 + T cells and CD4/CD8 ratio) and found that probiotics could not reduce the increased IL-6 levels but possessed the ability to moderate the immunity and decreased the incidence of secondary infection in COVID-19 patients.Conclusions Probiotics could be an effective strategy for the treatment of COVID-19 patients to reduce the secondary infection and moderated the immunity.
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In a randomized placebo-controlled trial, gastrointestinal symptoms of tested SARS-CoV-2 patients improved, and hospital-acquired diarrhea was less frequent in patients who received a probiotic compared with placebo.
“In another study, [153] reported that in a randomized, placebo-controlled trial, the gastrointestinal symptoms of the tested SARS-CoV-2 patients appeared to improve, and hospital-acquired diarrhea was less frequent in patients who received a probiotic compared with those who received a placebo.”
From The Potential Impact of Probiotics on Human Health: An Update on Their Health-Promoting Properties (2024) · cites this paper as [153]
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The Potential Impact of Probiotics on Human Health: An Update on Their Health-Promoting Properties
Maftei, N.-M., Raileanu, C. R., Balta, A. A., Ambrose, L., Boev, M., Marin, D. B., & Lisa, E. L. (2024) · Microorganisms · doi:10.3390/microorganisms12020234 · Cited by 381 · see citing works
- Authors
- Li, Q., Cheng, F., Xu, Q., Su, Y., Cai, X., Zeng, F., & Zhang, Y.
- Affiliations
- Wuhan Union Hospital (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zeng, Fang
- Zhang, Yu
- Venue
- International Immunopharmacology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-06
- Volume
- 95
- Pages
- 107531
- ISSN
- 1567-5769 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7934664
- OpenAlex
- W3133522886
- Cited by
- 64
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 4.43
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- Locations
- International Immunopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC0909900)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Keywords
- probiotics, COVID-19 pandemic, severe COVID-19, secondary infection, immunomodulation, interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, T cells, natural killer cells, CD4/CD8 ratio, viral clearance
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Aged, B-Lymphocytes, Female, Humans, Inflammation, Killer Cells, Natural, Male, Middle Aged, Receptors, Immunologic, Retrospective Studies, Severity of Illness Index, T-Lymphocytes, Interleukin-6, CD4-CD8 Ratio, Treatment Outcome, Probiotics
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