This pilot study found that certain strains of #bacteria in Parmesan cheese (which are derived from cattle gut, milk and the local #environment) can colonize + persist in the guts of people who consume the cheese on a daily basis: nature.com/articles/s4146…
2/ The findings suggest that globalization must be impacting gut #microbiome composition in a growing # of people 👉 Think how an average USA supermarket imports cheese + other #foods from around the globe, meaning people are often consuming an “international” mix of #organisms
3/ I wonder if, in some people, the #gut is not prepared for influxes of so many different global organisms, and/or lacks #immunity against certain strains 👉 If yes, that cld partly explain why people who “eat locally” (their #food comes from the same area) sometimes feel better
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This is the most straightforward explanation for chronic symptoms in at least a subset of #LongCovid patients. Partly b/c if the #virus is still present its activity can directly contribute to other phenomena also being documented in LongCovid
2/ Persistence of #SARS-CoV-2 in tissue could lead to shedding of spike protein into blood, which can catalyze the ongoing formation of microclots and hyperactivated platelets
3/ Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 can lead to ongoing downregulation of interferon and/or T cell signaling by the virus, creating an optimal atmosphere for activation of EBV or other #pathogens normally controlled by such immunity
New @polybioRF podcast. I interviewed Dr. Tobias Lanz: MD + researcher in the lab of Prof. William Robinson at the Department of Rheumatology/Immunology at Stanford School of Medicine. Listen on Spotify (open.spotify.com/episode/4bTQss…) or watch on Youtube ()
2/ In the interview Tobias discusses this breakthrough study he led at Stanford. It showed that a cross-reactive antibody can contribute to #MS neuroinflammation thanks to molecular mimcry b/t an EBV viral protein (EBNA1) + a human CNS protein (GlialCAM): nature.com/articles/s4158…
3/ Tobias also describes this recent Harvard study which further implicates #EBV as a driver of MS. He talks about treatment for MS now that #viral activity is understood to be at the heart of the disease process: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
New @polybioRF podcast: I interviewed Dr. Alessio Fasano: Chief of the Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. Watch on Youtube () or listen on an App like Spotify (open.spotify.com/episode/3KZGCX…)
2/ Alessio discusses this study: His team showed that in children with MIS-C, #SARS-CoV-2 gut reservoir led to release of zonulin (a biomaker of intestinal permeability) + subsequent trafficking of spike protein to into blood, leading to hyperinflammation: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34032635/
3/ Alessio and team are using a zonulin inhibitor called Larazotide to improve gut permeability/SARS-CoV-2 spike leakage in #MIS-C (the drug may also have antviral properties). They are ready to start a Larazotide trial in #LongCovid too if funded
People are asking me: what if we did a similar autopsy study to look for #viruses in ME/CFS? Well, several teams that performed single autopsy studies on #ME/CFS patients found evidence of persistent enterovirus infection in subject brain/body tissue
2/ Enteroviruses are (like SARS-CoV-2) single-stranded RNA viruses. They include the coxsackieviruses, poliovirus, echoviruses + rhinoviruses. These viruses cause about 10–15 million #infections each year in the USA alone
3/ This 1994 ME/CFS autopsy study identified positive PCR sequences with similarity to coxsackievirus B3 in samples from the #brainstem and hypothalamus (and also in muscle and heart tissue): acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/00…
New preprint: The team did autopsies on 44 patients w/ #COVID-19 to map + quantify SARS-CoV-2 distribution, replication and cell-type specificity across the human body (including brain) from acute infection through over 7 months following symptom onset: researchsquare.com/article/rs-113…
2/ They found that #SARS-CoV-2 was widely distributed, even among patients who died with asymptomatic to mild COVID-19. They also detected persistent SARS-CoV-2 RNA in multiple anatomic sites, including regions throughout the #brain, for up to 230 days following symptom onset
3/ Persistence of low-level #SARS-CoV-2 RNA was frequently detected across multiple #tissue categories among all late cases patients who passed away after 31 days, despite being undetectable in plasma