Probiotics in Medicine: A Long Debate

Probiotics as a Weapon in the Fight Against COVID-19

“…In our previously published work, we support that probiotics could be used as an adjunctive treatment against COVID-19 ( 1 ) and other colleagues have also focused their attention on this subject ( 2 , 3 ).…”

“…All the above, suggest the potential effect of probiotics as a potential therapeutic approach for COVID -19. Nevertheless, probiotics should be used with caution, especially in critically ill patients (1). They are not recommended in immunocompromised patients or those with prosthetic valves due to their potential of invasive infections (1). Moreover, some of them have been incriminated as potential recipients of resistance genes (vanA gene cluster due to E. faecium SF68 strain) (47).…”

“…Probiotics boost the immune system, enhance the mucosal barrier function and inhibit bacterial adherence and invasion capacity in the intestinal epithelium by being in a direct antagonism with pathogenic bacteria ( 1 ). The gut-lung axis is involved in the pathogenicity of bacterial and viral infections, as the intestinal microbiota boosts the alveolar macrophage activity, thus having a protective role in host defense against pneumonia ( 1 ).…”

“…Probiotics boost the immune system, enhance the mucosal barrier function and inhibit bacterial adherence and invasion capacity in the intestinal epithelium by being in a direct antagonism with pathogenic bacteria ( 1 ). The gut-lung axis is involved in the pathogenicity of bacterial and viral infections, as the intestinal microbiota boosts the alveolar macrophage activity, thus having a protective role in host defense against pneumonia ( 1 ). Along these lines, current clinical evidence connects gut, lung, and brain as an entity with communication mediated through complex neural, immunologic inflammatory, and neuroendocrine networks, the so called gut-brain-lung axis ( 4 ).…”

“…Moreover, following sepsis, neurologic and cognitive outcomes are observed ( 4 , 6 ). Without any doubt, the importance of the gut microbiome is stated ( 1 ). The composition of the gut microbiome may be used as a predictive tool of disease development and infection severity ( 1 , 7 , 8 ).…”