How Fungi are providing clues about severe COVID-19 and long COVID

Sometimes, the delicate balance and ecosystem of our gut microbes can be disturbed...

When I talk about the gut microbiome, I often focus on the bacterial species that live in our guts. But, of course, there are many other microbes that are just as important to our microbiome and our health, including viruses, archeae, parasites and fungi that we know less about. 

A study about COVID-19 in the journal Nature Immunology caught my eye. A group of researchers at Cornell University in the US looked at the fungal gut microbiome – or mycobiome as some call it – in COVID-19 patients. 

There are myriad types of fungi that inhabit our guts; the best known of these are yeasts. While many people mistakenly still think of these as the cause of unwanted intestinal symptoms, yeasts are a normal part of our gut environment and actually incredibly important in reducing inflammation and maintaining our healthy immune responses. Yeasts are an important part of us and also many healthy foods and drinks we ingest.

Photo by Timothy Dykes

We already know from other studies that many patients with severe COVID-19 exhibit increased levels of fungal species in their gut, and some develop life-threatening fungal infections in their lungs.