Tuberculosis infection protects mice from developing COVID-19
Discovery may explain why tuberculosis and COVID-19 double infections are
rare in humans

Date:
March 24, 2022
Source:
PLOS
Summary:
In mice, the immune response mounted against tuberculosis prevents
them from developing COVID-19, according to a new study.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In mice, the immune response mounted against tuberculosis prevents them
from developing COVID-19, according to a new study by Richard Robinson
at The Ohio State University, U.S. and colleagues publishing March 24th
in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens.


========================================================================== Currently, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, and the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, are the
leading causes of death from infectious disease worldwide. Tuberculosis
is widespread, and scientists have questioned whether the immune response triggered by this serious respiratory infection might protect people
from developing COVID-19. To find out more, researchers worked with two different strains of mice and infected them with M. tuberculosis. Then
they exposed the mice to the COVID-19 virus and monitored them for
signs of infection. They discovered that mice with tuberculosis showed
no signs of COVID-19, likely because the pre-existing immune response
to tuberculosis prevented the virus from proliferating in the lungs.

Altogether, the findings demonstrate that tuberculosis infection makes
the lungs inhospitable to the COVID-19 virus in mice. If the same is true
for humans, then this discovery may be one reason why there have been few reports of individuals with both tuberculosis and COVID-19 in the absence
of other complications. The findings may also explain why countries
tend to have high rates of infection of COVID-19 or tuberculosis, but
not both. The researchers propose that future research should focus on
the interaction between COVID-19 and tuberculosis infections in humans.

"TB and COVID are pandemics that affect every part of the world,"
Robinson adds. "Our study reflects the work of a diverse and talented
group of OSU scientists to better understand how these two diseases
influence one another, a surprising observation being that mice with TB
are resistant to COVID in a lab setting."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Oscar Rosas Mejia, Erin S. Gloag, Jianying Li, Marisa Ruane-Foster,
Tiffany A. Claeys, Daniela Farkas, Shu-Hua Wang, Laszlo Farkas,
Gang Xin, Richard T. Robinson. Mice infected with Mycobacterium
tuberculosis are resistant to acute disease caused by secondary
infection with SARS-CoV-2.

PLOS Pathogens, 2022; 18 (3): e1010093 DOI:
10.1371/journal.ppat.1010093 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220324143753.htm

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