Perturbations in gut and respiratory microbiota in COVID-19 and influenza patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19)/influenza poses unprecedented challenges to the global economy and healthcare services. Numerous studies have described alterations in the microbiome of COVID-19/influenza patients, but further investigation is needed to understand the relationship between the microbiome and these diseases. Herein, through systematic comparison between COVID-19 patients, long COVID-19 patients, influenza patients, no COVID-19/influenza controls and no COVID-19/influenza patients, we conducted a comprehensive review to describe the microbial change of respiratory tract/digestive tract in COVID-19/influenza patients.
Methods: We systematically reviewed relevant literature by searching the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases from inception to August 12, 2023. We conducted a comprehensive review to explore microbial alterations in patients with COVID-19/influenza. In addition, the data on α-diversity were summarized and analyzed by meta-analysis.
Results: A total of 134 studies comparing COVID-19 patients with controls and 18 studies comparing influenza patients with controls were included. The Shannon indices of the gut and respiratory tract microbiome were slightly decreased in COVID-19/influenza patients compared to no COVID-19/influenza controls. Meanwhile, COVID-19 patients with more severe symptoms also exhibited a lower Shannon index versus COVID-19 patients with milder symptoms. The intestinal microbiome of COVID-19 patients was characterized by elevated opportunistic pathogens along with reduced short-chain fatty acid (SCFAs)-producing microbiota. Moreover, Enterobacteriaceae (including Escherichia and Enterococcus ) and Lactococcus , were enriched in the gut and respiratory tract of COVID-19 patients. Conversely, Haemophilus and Neisseria showed reduced abundance in the respiratory tract of both COVID-19 and influenza patients.
Conclusion: In this systematic review, we identified the microbiome in COVID-19/influenza patients in comparison with controls. The microbial changes in influenza and COVID-19 are partly similar.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2024 Chu, Song, Zhou, Chen, Chu, Li, Li, Liu, Hou, Wu and Gong.)