Bifidobacterium Against COVID-19: A Mother and Her Newborn’s Gut Microbiome
Sabine Hazan, Megan Smith, Skye Lander, Abby Carlson, Camila Walters
Cureus, doi:10.7759/cureus.60038
Several treatments and preventive measures for SARS-CoV-2 were studied during the pandemic, but few focused on the neonatal gut microbiome and its role in the setting of COVID-19. This case report is unique because it describes the gut microbiomes of a mother and her newborn, who both contracted COVID-19 shortly after the baby's birth. In this prospective study, on day 11 postpartum, both the newborn and mother (38 years old), of white race/ethnicity, were exposed to a COVID-19-positive person. After exposure, the mother received a 40,000 IU bolus of vitamin D orally and started a five-day course of high-dose vitamin C (10,000 mg daily), after which she continued her daily combination of vitamins C, D, and zinc pill with probiotic skyr yogurt and manuka honey. Stool specimens and DNA were extracted, quantitated, and normalized from the mother and the newborn for downstream library fabrication utilizing shotgun methodology. Baseline Bifidobacteria level for the mother was 1.5% which increased to 19% on day 15 postpartum after testing positive for COVID-19 and taking vitamin C. Neonatal Bifidobacteria steadily increased regardless of COVID-19 infection. We propose that the disease course was altered by maternal supplementation of vitamins C and D and zinc, which may have increased Bifidobacterium levels and led to improved outcomes for both patients.
Additional Information Author Contributions All authors have reviewed the final version to be published and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Concept and design:
Disclosures Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: Sabine Hazan, MD declare(s) The analysis of stools was paid for by Microbiome Research Foundation. from Microbiome Research Foundation. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
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