Six-month follow-up of gut microbiota richness in patients with COVID-19
Yanfei Chen, Silan Gu, Yunbo Chen, Haifeng Lu, Ding Shi, Jing Guo, Wen-Rui Wu, Ya Yang, Yongtao Li, XU Kai-jin, Cheng Ding, Rui Luo, Chenjie Huang, Ling Yu, Min Xu, Ping Yi, Jun Liu, Jing-jing Tao, Hua Zhang, Longxian Lv, Baohong Wang, Jifang Sheng, Lanjuan Li
Abstract
We read with great interest the recent article published in Gut in which Yeoh et al demonstrated that gut microbiota composition of recovered patients with COVID-19 remained significantly distinct from uninfected controls.1 Persisting symptoms, also known as ‘long COVID-19’, have been reported in a significant proportion of patients following hospital discharge.2 3 Gut dysbiosis might link to long COVID-19 risks.1 Few studies have focused on the recovery process of gut microbiota following SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we conducted a prospective study to longitudinally monitor alterations of gut microbiota in patients with COVID-19 using 16S rDNA sequencing (detailed methods in online supplementary materials). Faecal microbiota was monitored at three timepoints, acute phase (from illness onset to viral clearance), convalescence (from viral clearance to 2 weeks after hospital discharge), postconvalescence (6 months after hospital discharge).### Supplementary data [gutjnl-2021-324090supp001.pdf] The gut microbiota richness, measured by Chao 1 index, was obviously lower (p<0.01, Wilcoxon rank-sum test; figure 1A) in the acute phase of COVID-19 (median 217, IQR 164–266) as compared with uninfected controls (median 432, IQR 332–468). There was a non-significant increase of the Chao 1 index from the acute phase (median 217, IQR 164–266) to the convalescence (median 241, IQR 202–279) and postconvalescence (median 259, IQR 193–302). A Bray-Curtis based principal coordinated analysis revealed that the overall microbial composition of …