Galatasaray announces a new infection with the Corona virus among the players

The emerging corona virus has caused more than 109 million cases of infection and more than 2.4 million deaths, however, there are no approved drugs that have demonstrated strong specific activity against the virus, impeding the control of the outbreak.

A new study explores the role of probiotics in disease management, which could be of great value, given the emergence of new variants of the Coronavirus.

Probiotics are "non-pathogenic microorganisms that provide various health benefits to the human host." These include bacteria commonly found in fermented foods, as these bacteria restore the balance of microbes in the gut.

The current paper, which appeared online in the journal Nutrition Research, reviewed the evidence for the use of probiotics in preventing viral infections, as they came up with an approximate list of probiotic strains that may help prevent infection, and boost immune function to reduce the impact of viral infections, especially the Corona virus. .

Effects of probiotics on the virus

 

Coronavirus can be transmitted even in individuals who do not show symptoms, or during the infection stages before symptoms appear, the latter may persist for up to two weeks, exposing others to heavy viral loads and a high risk of infection.

Probiotics may lock in the virus in a respiratory infection, as well as prevent the virus from binding to the host cell's receptor.

For example, one mouse model showed that probiotics enhanced influenza virus clearance and neutralized antibody production, via T cells, and as a result, the virus was removed from the lungs and other sites of infection.

Another study showed that death rates from influenza decreased from 100% to 60% when consuming live and dead probiotics, respectively, and from 60% to 30% when using the nasal route.The same researchers also demonstrated the potential effectiveness of probiotics for protecting against viral infection.

Protective effects in human viral infections

 

In human studies, probiotics have been found to protect against colds and flu by more than 50%, indicating that probiotics are safe and effective against respiratory infections.

Also in infants, taking probiotics daily from birth to one year was associated with a 28% reduced risk of developing recurrent respiratory infections.

The researchers concluded, that the benefit of these probiotics in the Coronavirus may lie in their ability to reduce the risk of developing a respiratory infection by binding to the virus or to the epithelial surface itself, and this prevents the virus from attaching to the epithelial cell receptors.

Once these results are validated, the researchers said, probiotics can be introduced into clinical use in managing the Coronavirus.