Potential implications of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection in the host microbiota.

Potential implications of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection in the host microbiota. J Oral Microbiol. 2020 Nov 29;13(1):1853451 Authors: Xiang Z, Koo H, Chen Q, Zhou X, Liu Y, Simon-Soro A Abstract The oral cavity, as the entry point to the body, may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 infection that has caused a global outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Available data indicate that the oral cavity may be an active site of infection and an important reservoir of SARS-CoV-2. Considering that the oral surfaces are colonized by a diverse microbial community, it is likely that viruses have interactions with the host microbiota. Patients infected by SARS-CoV-2 may have alterations in the oral and gut microbiota, while oral species have been found in the lung of COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, interactions between the oral, lung, and gut microbiomes appear to occur dynamically whereby a dysbiotic oral microbial community could influence respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases. However, it is unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 infection can alter the local homeostasis of the resident microbiota, actively cause dysbiosis, or influence cross-body sites interactions. Here, we provide a conceptual framework on the potential impact of SARS-CoV-2 oral infection on the local and distant microbiomes across the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts ('oral-tract axes'), which remains largely unexplored. Studies in this area c...
Source: Journal of Oral Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Tags: J Oral Microbiol Source Type: research