Is Covid-19 only a respiratory illness? This was the question that scientists asked months ago. Now, the researchers are wondering: Is Covid-19 primarily a respiratory illness? Are we testing in the right manner to diagnose Covid-19 or understand SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection correctly?
Covid-19 has a gut connection. It is no longer just a respiratory illness for scientists. An emerging volume of research suggests that Covid-19 is a multisystem illness with overlapping symptoms for a host of previously known diseases.
A particular medical condition, called the multisystem inflammation syndrome (MIS), caused by Covid-19 has drawn the attention of scientists. Researchers have found the syndrome in both children - clinically below 21 years of age - and adults leading to naming the syndrome as MIS-C among children and MIS-A in case of adults.
COVID-19 NOT AN EXCLUSIVE RESPIRATORY ILLNESS
The distinguishing factor between MIS-C and MIS-A are gastrointestinal symptoms. These symptoms have been found to take several weeks to manifest in a Covid-19 patient. What is happening is that when patients show these symptoms, they report negative for Covid-19 test of samples taken from nose and throat.
This has led researchers to suspect that while SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses exit the nasal and throat or respiratory organs of the body, they might still be hiding in the gastrointestinal tract.
THE GUT CONNECTION OF COVID-19
The human intestine is the largest immune organ of the body. The digestive tract is packed with loads of immune cells. Many of them are bacteria that cohabit the gut and are beneficial for humans -- they fight disease-causing viruses and other pathogens.
What scientists have found is that a fairly large number of Covid-19 patients have complaints of gut dysbiosis - a medical term used to describe microbial imbalance - after reporting negative in the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus test and long after showing initial respiratory symptoms for the pandemic illness.
Severe gut dysbiosis has been found even in patients with mild or moderate Covid-19 case. A study published in June found SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses in the faeces of children almost three weeks after their throat swabs had returned negative for Covid-19.
That Covid-19 could equally be a gastrointestinal disease and that SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is an intestine-affecting virus gains from yet another research published in the medical journal "Gut".
The research shows that the Covid-19 virus stays active in the digestive tract weeks after it disappears from nose, mouth and lungs - the usual suspect areas of coronavirus infection.
This explains why many Covid-19 patients develop certain complications days and even weeks after declared "recovered" from SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
WHY CORONAVIRUS HIDES IN STOMACH
This also has a connection with the origin of respiratory SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus as a human virus. SARS-CoV-2 inhabits the gut of bats. Its genes have evolved in the mammalian gut. Another coronavirus, SARS-CoV, which created worldwide panic in 2002-03, had caused severe gastrointestinal illness along with respiratory problems.
The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has a striking structural similarity to a poisonous chemical called Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB). It causes food poisoning, stomach ache and vomiting even in small amount. It is produced by a group of bacteria (Staphylococcal). It is a super antigen, induces inflammation and stimulates release of cytokines. Some countries have reportedly developed this virus as bioweapon.
THE WAY FORWARD: RETHINK COVID-19 PROTOCOL
Researchers have even developed a coronavirus test for stool for better diagnosis of Covid-19 illness among humans. This can be very useful in combating Covid-19 pandemic given that a large number of people remain asymptomatic for respiratory illnesses after contracting SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Testing stool for Covid-19 virus was adopted as a screening tool by Hong Kong for travellers as early as March this year. It is safe and easy, besides showing more accurate results about a person carrying SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which has been found to stay active the longest in faeces.
These researches now raise a range of questions about the existing protocol to combat Covid-19. If their findings are accurate then, Covid-19 can no longer be treated as primarily a respiratory disease.
If that is so, Covid-19 diagnosis based on nasal and throat swabs may have a limited role to play in checking the spread of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to new areas and infecting new people. Stool test may be a better option or at least a recommended pandemic-control strategy for patients returning negative for nasal and throat swabs.
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2020-10-20 09:25:35Z
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