Coronavirus symptoms: Stomach issues main sign of COVID-19 – scientists discover why

Scientists from Tongji Medical College looked at data from patients to analyse the different symptoms COVID-19 patients experienced. The results showed digestive symptoms were prevalent in many patients. In fact, 60 percent of patients reported having diarrhoea and 20 percent of them had diarrhoea as their first warning symptom of COVID-19. Director for Public Health for Worcester, Michael Hirsch said: “The more we see the disease, we’re going to see manifestations of the disease that don’t fit that classic picture of dry hacking cough and fever. We’re going to see other manifestations of it.” Why does COVID-19 effect the stomach?

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Leading health experts have now found the quality of one’s gut health may have a direct impact on a healthy person’s chances of developing potentially severe COVID-19 symptoms.

This was announced after preliminary findings of a study which has not been peer-reviewed as of yet.

The findings were published on medRxiv and suggests that more than 60 percent of the patients who has suffered with COVID-19 symptoms and later diagnosed with the deadly virus experienced gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhoea and vomiting.

The same group experiencing the gastrointestinal issues also experienced a more serious form of the virus which lead researchers to look further into why COVID-19 effects the stomach as much as it does.

When the researchers further investigated, they discovered that the virus attaches to an enzyme known as ACE2. It is the same enzyme which regulates intestinal inflammation and controls the quality and proportion of good and bad bacteria in the gut.

It was further revealed that it therefore has a direct role to play in cardiac and pulmonary diseases.

“Taken together, the available evidence suggests a potential role of gut microbiota in the susceptibility of COVID-19 progression and severity,” the researchers wrote in their preliminary findings.

What is the ACE2 enzyme and how does it relate to COVID-19?

In a study with Nature Medicine it was reported: “During several months of 2003, a newly identified illness termed severe acute respiratory syndrome spread rapidly through the world.

“A new coronavirus was identified as the SARS pathogen which triggered severe pneumonia and acute, often lethal, lung failure.

“Moreover, among infected individuals’ influenza such as the Spanish flu and the emergence of new respiratory disease viruses have caused high lethality resulting from acute lung failure. In all cells, angiotensin-converting enzyme ACE2 has been identified as a potential SARS-CoV receptor.”

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How COVID-19 effects the stomach microbes

During the research the team compared blood protein data from COVID-19 patients and genome and microbiome data of over 2400 non-affected people in China to arrive at a blood proteomic risk score.

The score predicts whether a COVID-19 patient will get a severe form of infection.

Machine learning was then applied to identify correlate blood protein biomarkers of COVID-19 with the gut microbes.

The make-up of gut microbes and blood proteins was also studied using machine learning, which that a link between PRS and gut microbiome.

To have a healthy gut is an indicator of having a good immunity against infectious disease such as the deadly virus sweeping across the world.

To help maintain good microbiome diversity in the gut, people are advised to consume high-quality plant-based foods that are rich in fibre and avoid the consumption of processed foods as much as possible.

Include more probiotics in the diet which helps with the development of good bacteria. Eating more foods such as yoghurt, cheese and kefir will help with good gut health.

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