ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has now entered a critical stage worldwide.Patients typically show fever and severe respiratory symptoms, and some others also present gastrointestinal symptoms, like diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, anorexia and also abdominal pain.At present, it is still lack of effective antiviral medicines for this disease, and now clinics mainly focus on symptomatic treatment. The classical theory of traditional Chinese medicine "exterior and interior relationship between lung and large intestine" which coincides with the "gut-lung axis" in modern medicine, this theory indicate alternatives related to gut microbiota might help to control this viral infection. Therefore, this review focus on discusses the relationship between gut microbiota and respiratory viral diseases, the use of probiotics and nutritional therapies to balance the gut microbiota, modulate the immune response and inhibit viral replication. These might be promising alternative pathways in the treatment of COVID-19. Copyright © 2022, Editorial Board of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. All right reserved.