The current COVID-19 emergency represents a daily test-bed for the scientific world, both for the identification of a vaccine able to end the disease for good and for the development of therapies able to curb the strength of the virus.

Today, a new Italian study, coordinated by Gabriella d'Ettorre, Claudio Mastroianni, and Francesco Pugliese of Sapienza University of Rome and “Umberto I” University General Hospital, is part of the international panorama of scientific contributions belonging to the line of research launched to overcome the pandemic. The paper, published on Frontiers in Medicine journal, analysed the role of oral bacteriotherapy - the technique that aims to combat disease through the targeted use of "good" bacteria - in association with pharmacological treatments commonly used to control COVID-19 progression.

On a sample of 70 patients positive for SARS-CoV-2, the researchers observed that oral bacteriotherapy associated with traditional anti-COVID treatment regimens could improve some clinical parameters. "We obtained - says Gabriella d'Ettorre of the Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases of Sapienza – a positive outcome both in terms of remission of symptoms and reduction in the evolution towards severe forms of disease".
Although it needs to be further confirmed in broader clinical trials, the results of the study corroborate bacteriotherapy as a promising line of research on COVID-19.

References: 

Challenges in the Management of SARS-CoV2 Infection: The Role of Oral Bacteriotherapy as Complementary Therapeutic Strategy to Avoid the Progression of COVID-19 - Gabriella d'Ettorre, Giancarlo Ceccarelli, Massimiliano Marazzato, Giuseppe Campagna, Claudia Pinacchio, Francesco Alessandri, Franco Ruberto, Giacomo Rossi, Luigi Celani, Carolina Scagnolari, Cristina Mastropietro, Vito Trinchieri, Gregorio Egidio Recchia, Vera Mauro, Guido Antonelli, Francesco Pugliese and Claudio Maria Mastroianni - Frontiers in Medicine (2020)  https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2020.00389
 

Further Information

Gabriella d'Ettorre
Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases
gabriella.dettorre@uniroma1.it