Covid found to reactivate a dormant bacterial infection

The research was carried out at the Indian Institute of Technology in Guwahati regarding the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

As per the result of the research, it was found that the Covid causing virus may have the ability to reactivate dormant tuberculosis. In India, there is nearly 40 per cent of the population with dormant or latent TB.

The study showed that infection with a specific coronavirus strain reactivated dormant tuberculosis in mice.

The lead investigator of the research, Bikul Das, said that it is an urgent need to study the association of Covid 19 with dormant TB reactivation to avoid the global TB pandemic.

Das said that the finding of TB reactivation in a stem cell-mediated Mtb dormancy mouse model during MHV-1 coronavirus infection indicates that in the long term, post-pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 virus might activate dormant bacterial infection.

TB was reactivated in the dMtb mice, suggesting that dormant TB bacteria highjack these ASCs to replicate in the lungs to cause pulmonary TB.

Das concluded by saying that it is crucial to understand the host mechanism against the disease to develop a better treatment/ vaccine.