Microbial Avoidance in COVID-19 Protocols and Human Microbiome

"The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to affect the human microbiome in infected and uninfected individuals, having a substantial impact on human health over the long term."

Canadian Institute For Advanced Research, humans and microbiome program study

 

"It gives us an experiment that you can't normally do: If you lock people up for a year, does it have long-term consequences?"

"We know, based on history, that there are consequences."

"A child born today in a COVID world, who is that kid interacting with? They are not getting the microbes they are normally exposed to. We know in early life it is really important to have diverse microbial exposure, and that is just not happening in COVID, so I think there is some significant concern about what goes on there."

"We have really drastically changed society in the last year and we know these often result in significant changes in the microbiome. It is a wonderful experiment."

"We are in a position to look at these things, so we need to use this opportunity to really examine this and learn from it."

Brett Finlay, microbiologist, University of British Columbia

Institut Pasteur

Lead author of the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Dr.Finlay considers the pandemic a real-time experiment on the impact of public health measures brought to the fore as a required protocol in the time of a global pandemic to avoid contracting the virus associated with SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19, whose longer-term consequences can be anticipated in deleteriously affecting the microorganisms living within human bodies whose role is to contribute to overall health.

 

Undeniably, measures that have been identified by health authorities and which have been urged on the public in an effort to control the coronavirus succeed in contributing to prevention of viral infection. The wearing of protective face masks to screen out the pathogen, maintaining distance, frequent handwashing -- all contribute positively to public measures meant to contain COVID. At the same time there is a growing recognition that scrupulous attention to hygiene has its downside in potential health consequences for the future.

 

The recently published study raised the possibility of profound changes in the human microbiome resulting from these COVID-protective measures. Changes that will invariably ensure that some people become more susceptible to chronic conditions and diseases which would include obesity and asthma.  Human microbiome is comprised of microbes existing on and within the human body whose function in protecting human health and staving off disease is well known.

 

Sapiens

Changes in the microbiome are inevitable, with the use of antibiotics or alternately through limiting contact with microorganisms and particularly in early childhood with foreseeable health consequences. Early-childhood exposure to certain microorganisms protects against allergic diseases and contributes to the immune system's development, a well-recognized hygiene hypothesis in medicine. While sanitary precautions along with distancing whose aim is to prevent the spread of COVID are recognized preventives, people should be prepared for microbiome changes, as a result.

 

Some hand sanitizers may negatively impact a person’s microbiome, a suite of microbes that support human health. U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Allergic responses, asthma, obesity and diabetes are all linked to alterations in the human microbiome, resulting from less exposure to microorganisms. Dr.Finlay points out that research demonstrates consequences occur as a result of a "hyperhygienic" society, and he laid it all out in the book Let Them Eat Dirt, that he wrote. Increased rates of obesity, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease and allied conditions, particularly in children, have all been linked to less exposure to microbes. Such that children who are raised on farms, suffer lower incidences of asthma and allergies.

 

The use of antibiotics with infant care has been reduced in British Columbia in the last several decades, and Dr.Finlay has focused on British Columbia in his research to conclude that significantly higher risk of asthma is tied to the use of antibiotics exposure in infancy. What has been seen is that a reduction in rates of asthma resulted when antibiotics use was diminished with infants in the province. Dr.Finlay points out as well that physical distancing itself produces a variance in people's exposure to microbes.

 

He also prescribes a living  formula that can help offset alterations in microbiome as a result of scrupulous hygiene practices in COVID avoidance countered through a diet rich in the kind of fibre found in grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables, along with a regular exercise regimen, and close contact with family pets as well as ensuring outdoor quality time remains a priority. Children in particular benefit hugely from outdoor play "in the environmental microbes", rather than playing indoors.

 

During the 19th-century Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, who transformed the field of nursing, initiated handwashing practices in British army hospitals. J.A. Benwell/Wikimedia