Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2022 Jan 17; 10(B):625-631. 625
Scientifc Foundation SPIROSKI, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2022 Jan 17; 10(B):625-631.
https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2022.7989
eISSN: 1857-9655
Category: B - Clinical Sciences
Section: Infective Diseases
Promising Indicators in Probiotic-recommendations in COVID-19
and its Accompanying Diseases
Vardan Tsaturyan
1,2
, Almagul Kushugulova
3
, Susanna Mirzabekyan
4
, Ketevan Sidamonidze
5
, David Tsereteli
6
,
Tamas Torok
7
, Astghik Pepoyan
4
*
1
Department of Military Therapy Yerevan State Medical University, Yerevan, Armenia;
2
International Association for Human and
Animals Health Improvement, Yerevan, Armenia;
3
Centre for Life Science, National laboratory Astana, Nazarbayev University, Nur-
Sultan, Kazakhstan;
4
Department of Food Safety and Biotechnology, Armenian National Agrarian University, Yerevan, Armenia;
5
Lugar Center for Public Health Research, Tbilisi, Georgia;
6
Department of Communicable Diseases, National Centre for Disease
Control and Public Health, Tbilisi, Georgia;
7
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, United States
Abstract
Scientifc data suggests the possible benefcial role of probiotics in treatments for COVID-19, but the species/
strains-specifcity and disease-specifcity of probiotics need high attention in choosing the appropriate probiotic in
diseases, in particularly in the COVID-19. We hope this review will raise awareness of the COVID-19 probiotic
recommendations, highlighting the latest scientifc information about virus/hydrogen peroxide/probiotics and the
importance of fnding out of a specifc “criterion” for the probiotics’ recommendation in this disease.
Edited by: Ana Vucurevic
Citation: Tsaturyan V, Kushugulova A, Mirzabekyan S,
Sidamonidze K, Tsereteli D, Torok T, Pepoyan A.
Promising Indicators in Probiotic-recommendations in
COVID-19 and its Accompanying Diseases. Open Access
Maced J Med Sci. 2022 Jan 17; 10(B):625-631.
https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2022.7989
Keywords: COVID-19; Probiotic-specifcity; Oxidative
stress; Immunobiotic; Gut microbiota
*Correspondence: Dr. Astghik Pepoyan, Department
of Food Safety and Biotechnology, Armenian
National Agrarian University, Yerevan, Armenia.
E-mail: apepoyan@gmail.com
Received: 21-Nov-2021
Revised: 30-Dec-2021
Accepted: 07-Jan-2022
Copyright: © 2022 Vardan Tsaturyan,
Almagul Kushugulova, Susanna Mirzabekyan,
Ketevan Sidamonidze, David Tsereteli, Tamas Torok,
Astghik Pepoyan
Funding: This research was funded by State Committee
of Science of the Republic of Armenia (grant numbers:
10-15/I-5 and 21AG-4D065) and Science Committee of
the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of
Kazakhstan (grant number AP09563198).
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no
competing interests exist
Open Access: This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Introduction
Literature data indicate an association
between COVID-19 severity and diabetes [1], [2].
Most COVID-19 patients are prone to impaired
glucose metabolism; glycemic testing and control are
important even if the patients have no pre-existing
diabetes [3]. Furthermore, hypertension [1], [4],
acute coronary syndrome [5], rheumatic [6],
gastrointestinal [7], and neurologic features [8], [9] in
SARS-CoV-2 infection have been reported. Potential
associations between host blood characteristics and
gut bacteria [10], [11], [12], as well as between gut
microbiota and COVID-19 – accompanying diseases
have been actively discussed [13]. Sever childhood
respiratory illness in association with vitamin D
defciency has also been shown [14]. The clinical trials
and experimental studies on COVID-19 treatments are
ongoing worldwide, increasing the obtained information
on infected people, blood and organ system, genomics,
and metabolomics. Despite of a safe and efcacious
vaccines, respiratory tract infections will remain of
concern for high morbidity and mortality rates among
the elderly due to low level vaccine-induced immune
response [15], [16]. Recently collected data appear
to confrm the possible benefcial role of probiotics in
treating COVID-19 patients [17], [18]; however, there
is insufcient scientifc evidence specifc to COVID-
19. Therefore, species/strain- and disease-specifcity
of probiotics need more attention [19]. Probiotics may
have benefcial, harmful, or neutral impact on the
host. For example, in an in vivo study of their radio-
preventive/protective characteristics, 17 putative
probiotic lactobacilli, including the strain Lactobacillus
acidophilus DDS
®
-1 (from Lacto-G, a marketed
symbiotic formulation), the commercial probiotic
product Narine (L. acidophilus INMIA 9602 Er-2