Bacterial diversity and COVID-19

[xjrs]

Some people have mentioned on this forum that COVID-19 has affected their IBS or caused a flare up when they had otherwise been stable (though someone also mentioned relief from IBS during infection).

I came across this article whilst looking for something else, which might provide (at least part) of an explanation for this:

bmjopengastro.bmj.com/conte...

It discusses the fact that COVID-19 can decrease bacterial diversity in the gut. Having bacterial diversity is one of the things that can help stave off IBS. Interesting.

[Linley]

Thank you 👍

[Hidden]

thanks for sharing, yes interesting indeed

[Luisa22]

Yes, this is interesting. Thank you. Before I got IBS I should have had excellent bacterial diversity, that's the weird thing. Because my diet had been very good with a wide variety of foods (except meat) for a very long time, more than 25 years. I rarely if ever got any gut issues. The only one time I remember a gut upset was one day in the 90s just after I'd had a tetanus course for 3 months. But it was better very quickly.

But it was strange that I started having a badly upset gut just before I caught Covid. 3 weeks before. I couldn't put it down to anything. I was eating the same varied and healthy diet, but had started to feel unwell quite some time before that. Since 2018. At first I thought it was a flu bug, but it was too strange for that. Then after months I suspected ME/CFS. So did my doctor (blood work came back fine & other tests.) My tummy was ok through all of that.

The doctor suspected I had a migraine condition but it wasn't classic at all.

When I got Covid, I felt really ill with it but my gut was perfect! And for 6 weeks after. And my other symptoms disappeared! I imagined Covid had cured me -maybe kick started something in my immune system or some odd thing. It was a huge mystery, all of it.

[userotc in reply to Luisa22]

Could the timing of your upset gut correlate with the covid vaccine?

[Luisa22 in reply to userotc]

No. I got gut upset in beginning of March 2020. Covid on 2 April 2020. No vaccines then, and I haven't been vaccinated anyway since.

[xjrs in reply to Luisa22]

Yes. COVID is still a mystery, even to the scientists! A bit like IBS I suppose. Perhaps there are some genetic factors involved regarding how COVID affects one person or another.

[Luisa22 in reply to xjrs]

Yes I wondered that too. I know we are all different. It would be nice to see if genetic factors play a part. I got interested also in how Covid affects different blood groups. But didn't find anything remarkable or revelatory when looking at that info. I have a very rare blood group.

[Iesgobdafydd]

That's really interesting, thanks for posting it. You say it says Covid-19 can decrease bacterial activity in the gut, but I would have interpreted the conclusion as saying that they're not sure whether the Covid-19 is causing the decrease in bacterial activity or whether the decrease in bacterial activity had allowed the Covid-19 to reach a symptomatic level? It wouldn't have occurred to me that the latter was possible, so that is literally just how it reads to me.

It made me wonder whether the bacterial depletion was longterm/permanent, or a relatively short-term phenomenon in the Covid-19 patients, since friendly bacteria can potentially return to normal levels from low levels, or be restored from a haven in the appendix, from what I've read before.

[xjrs in reply to Iesgobdafydd]

All good questions. Probably the scientists are currently asking themselves the same thing.

[Laxmi_kook]

hi. I had Covid in July 2022. Thankfully not severe at all. Surprisingly not a single day had any IBS issue. Thanks for the interesting article

[xjrs in reply to Laxmi_kook]

Glad that it didn't affect you.

[Laxmi_kook in reply to xjrs]

I take a probiotic and prebiotic tablet 20 days a month. I reckon my IBS may have not flared because of that during Covid. Am also glad Covid didn’t affect me as I am asthmatic as well. But to my benefit I had my three shots of vaccination.