Jonathan Yewdell, speaking on This Week in Viriology (#597) about the human system, B cells, T cells, antibodies, memory cells, lymph nodes, mentioned, just in passing, something which may help explain the answer to the question in the prior blog post: Why do some people get deathly ill or even dead, from COVID19, where other people hardly even know they have it?
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| Jon Yewdell |
He tells a story about a graduate student's work in Maryland, where he went around collecting mouse feces, and he brought these samples back and gave some to lab mice, whose guts were colonized by lab microbiomes.
These lab mice were notoriously sensitive to influenza virus, and died quickly whenever they ran across it. But the lab mice who ingested the microbiome of the wild field mice now just shrugged off the influenza virus.
This suggests, or possibly proves, the microbiome of the mouse, and possibly of human beings might protect against viral infections.
Is it possible that human beings who have asymptomatic intercourse with COVID19 may have been impervious because of their gut microbiomes?
Just another little pearl from TWIV.
Phantom,
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting- another example of the unexpected and outsized role the inhabitants of our gut may play in our overall health. There's also a significant amount of research on the brain-gut connection and it's role in neurological disorders like Parkinson's.
Maud
Maud,
ReplyDeleteThere has never been a hormone discovered emanating from cells in the brain that does not also emanate from cells in the gut.