The covid-19 virus affects our gut – but we still don't know how

1 year ago 66

Health

The coronavirus commonly causes gastrointestinal symptoms, but whether this is owed to inflammation, disruption to our microbiome oregon the microorganism affecting the permeability of our gut partition is unclear

By Michael Marshall

A scanning electron micrograph of the delta SARS-CoV-2 variant (pink dots) budding from a quality gut cell

A scanning electron micrograph of the delta SARS-CoV-2 variant (blue dots) budding from a quality gut cell

STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

As the archetypal question of cases of the coronavirus swept the satellite successful aboriginal 2020, gastroenterologist Siew Ng astatine the Chinese University of Hong Kong was expecting the interaction of the microorganism to widen beyond the body’s airways. She and her colleagues vividly remembered the SARS coronavirus outbreak of 2003, giving them immoderate conception of what to expect from SARS-CoV-2. In particular, they anticipated that galore radical would make gut problems.

As these …