Bacterial Translocation: Microbiota-Intestine-Lung Axis and Pro-Inflammatory Status in the Severity of Covid-19

Abstract

Although severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus – 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, is primarily associated with a respiratory infection, it has also been linked to multisystem involvement that includes the digestive tract. Gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations are common in patients with COVID-19 due to the high viral load lodged in the small intestine's mucosa. As a result, it causes an increase in the permeability of the intestinal barrier that favours the passage and translocation of bacteria, from the lumen of the intestine, towards the internal environment, with the appearance of sepsis, with evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has been found in faeces. This article highlights epidemiology, clinical symptoms, and mechanisms related to manifestations of disease in the GI tract and its pathogenesis in patients with COVID-19. It highlights bacterial translocation and COVID-19, mechanisms that control bacterial translocation, intestinal infection and feco-oral transmission, defense