Our Gut Bacteria and the Relationship with Long COVID & Parkinson’s Disease

Our guts have millions of bacteria, viruses and fungi living in our intestinal tract. While many are beneficial and there are also ones that are harmful. Researchers are now exploring the connection between some of the microbes with long COVID and Parkinsons. 

And it appears there is a connection. 

First let’s look at Parkinson’s Disease which results in the patient experiencing tremors, muscle rigidity and dementia from a clumping of misfolded proteins in the patients’ brains. The new piece is that these clumps have also been found in patients’ intestinal nerves a decade or two before Parkinson’s symptoms even physically occur.

Researchers in Finland have found that a bacteria in the gut called Desulfovibrio, (DSV), is more common in people with Parkinson’s and that an increase in the quantity of this bacteria correlates with more severe symptoms.

The researchers concluded that specific strains of DSV are a likely cause of Parkinson’s. The researchers are now investigating how to either reduce the amount of these bacteria or eliminate them entirely from the patient’s gut to see how that will affect the patient’s Parkinson’s disease.

Now for long COVID. Previous research found a depletion of beneficial bacteria in the guts of COVID-19 patients. 

In this study, the researchers from Hong Kong looked at 463 long-COVID patients who had at least one symptom from a list of 14 symptoms of long COVID which included chronic pain, shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell. Researchers found that a cocktail of microbes that they called SIM01 was helpful.

The researchers found that after six months the SIM01 group saw improvements in not only gut issues but also in their ability to concentrate and remember. There was also a reduction in feelings of unwellness. In this unwellness category the SIM01 patients had a 77% improvement verse 59% for the placebo group.

So…for Parkinson’s and long COVID patients there appears to be help on the way from those millions of organisms in their guts. For the rest of us, feed those critters well as they can affect your whole life!
(Reported Discover, Jan/Feb 2024)