ABSTRACT
Intestinal flora is essential for maintaining host health and plays a unique role in transforming Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). TCM, as a bodyguard, has saved countless lives and maintained human health in the long history, especially in this COVID-19 pandemic. Pains of diseases have been removed from the effective TCM therapy, such as TCM preparation, moxibustion, and acupuncture. With the development of life science and technology, the wisdom and foresight of TCM has been more displayed. Furthermore, TCM has been also inherited and developed in innovation to better realize the modernization and globalization. Nowadays, intestinal flora transforming TCM and TCM targeted intestinal flora treating diseases have been important findings in life science. More and more TCM researches showed the significance of intestinal flora. Intestinal flora is also a way to study TCM to elucidate the profound theory of TCM. Processing, compatibility, and properties of TCM are well demonstrated by intestinal flora. Thus, it is no doubt that intestinal flora is a core in TCM study. The interaction between intestinal flora and TCM is so crucial for host health. Therefore, it is necessary to sum up the latest results in time. This paper systematically depicted the profile of TCM and the importance of intestinal flora in host. What is more, we comprehensively summarized and discussed the latest progress of the interplay between TCM and intestinal flora to better reveal the core connotation of TCM.
Subject(s)
Drugs, Chinese Herbal/therapeutic use , Dysbiosis/microbiology , Gastrointestinal Microbiome , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , Autoimmune Diseases/microbiology , Autoimmune Diseases/therapy , COVID-19 , Cardiovascular Diseases/microbiology , Cardiovascular Diseases/therapy , Diabetes Mellitus/microbiology , Diabetes Mellitus/therapy , Electroacupuncture , Gastrointestinal Diseases/microbiology , Gastrointestinal Diseases/therapy , Humans , Metabolic Diseases/microbiology , Metabolic Diseases/therapy , Neoplasms/microbiology , Neoplasms/therapy , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/microbiology , Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/therapy , Obesity/microbiology , Obesity/therapy , Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/microbiology , Renal Insufficiency, Chronic/therapy , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
A wide range of bacterial and fungal coinfections may be associated with COVID-19. We report a case of rhino-orbital mucormycosis in a patient with COVID-19. A 67-year-old man, known case of diabetes, hypertension and ischaemic heart disease, was being treated for COVID-19 pneumonia when he developed right cheek eschar and ophthalmoplegia. Imaging studies revealed pansinusitis of bilateral maxillary and sphenoid sinuses with thickening and enhancement of right-sided soft tissue, lacrimal gland, mastication muscles, temporal lobe infiltrate and cerebellum infarct. Emergency right face debridement, right eye exenteration and bilateral functional endoscopic sinus surgery were done. Histopathological examination confirmed mucormycosis diagnosis. He was given amphotericin B and broad-spectrum antibiotics. It is important to have high index of suspicion for fungal coinfections in patients with COVID-19 with pre-existing medical conditions. There is a need to emphasise judicious and evidence-based use of immunomodulators in patients with COVID-19 to avoid triggering and flaring up of fungal infections.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Diabetes Mellitus , Eye Infections, Fungal , Mucormycosis , Orbital Diseases , Aged , Antifungal Agents/therapeutic use , Diabetes Mellitus/microbiology , Eye Infections, Fungal/drug therapy , Humans , Male , Mucormycosis/complications , Mucormycosis/diagnosis , Mucormycosis/drug therapy , Orbital Diseases/drug therapyABSTRACT
Obesity and diabetes are established comorbidities for COVID-19. Adipose tissue demonstrates high expression of ACE2 which SARS- CoV-2 exploits to enter host cells. This makes adipose tissue a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 viruses and thus increases the integral viral load. Acute viral infection results in ACE2 downregulation. This relative deficiency can lead to disturbances in other systems controlled by ACE2, including the renin-angiotensin system. This will be further increased in the case of pre-conditions with already compromised functioning of these systems, such as in patients with obesity and diabetes. Here, we propose that interactions of virally-induced ACE2 deficiency with obesity and/or diabetes leads to a synergistic further impairment of endothelial and gut barrier function. The appearance of bacteria and/or their products in the lungs of obese and diabetic patients promotes interactions between viral and bacterial pathogens, resulting in a more severe lung injury in COVID-19.