Probiotics and COVID-19: Think about the link.

The pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is rapidly progressing, causing significant morbidity and mortality. Various antiviral drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, and immunomodulators have been tried without substantial clinical benefits. The severe and critical cases of COVID-19 disease are characterised by gut microbiome dysbiosis, immune dysregulation, hyper-inflammation, and hypercytokinemia (cytokine storm). Therefore, the strategies which target these pathophysiological processes may be beneficial. Probiotics are one such strategy that exerts beneficial effects by manipulation of the gut microbiota, suppression of opportunistic pathogens in the gut, decrease translocation of opportunistic organisms, activate mucosal immunity, and modulation of the innate and adaptive immune response. Probiotics are the potential candidates to be tested in moderate and severe cases of COVID-19 due to several beneficial effects, including easy availability, easy to administer, and safe, and economical to use.