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| LETTER TO EDITOR |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 7
| Issue : 4 | Page : 238-239 |
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Could there be an overlooked association of oral bacterium Aggregatibacter sp. in aggravating COVID-19 disease?
Vaibhav Patwardhan1, Priya Kotwani1, Deepak Saxena2
1 Department of Public Health, Parul Institute of Public Health, Parul University, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
2 Department of Epidemiology, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India
| Date of Submission | 27-Jul-2020 |
| Date of Acceptance | 12-Aug-2020 |
| Date of Web Publication | 30-Nov-2020 |
Correspondence Address:
Vaibhav Patwardhan
Parul Institute of Public Health, Parul University, P.O. Limda, Waghodia, Vadodara - 391 760, Gujarat
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jdrr.jdrr_92_20
How to cite this article:
Patwardhan V, Kotwani P, Saxena D. Could there be an overlooked association of oral bacterium Aggregatibacter sp. in aggravating COVID-19 disease?. J Dent Res Rev 2020;7:238-9 |
How to cite this URL:
Patwardhan V, Kotwani P, Saxena D. Could there be an overlooked association of oral bacterium Aggregatibacter sp. in aggravating COVID-19 disease?. J Dent Res Rev [serial online] 2020 [cited 2021 May 5];7:238-9. Available from: https://www.jdrr.org/text.asp?2020/7/4/238/302061 |
Dear Editor,
Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans is an anaerobic, Gram-negative coccobacillus,[1] and is a habitant of oral flora of humans, especially in gingival and periodontal pockets, and also of various animals.[2]A. actinomycetemcomitans is responsible to cause multiple periodontal diseases, along with other infections such as endocarditis and respiratory infections.[3]
The current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus-2, has so far affected more than 10 million individuals across the globe.[4] Despite repeated and desperate measures by the governments and health-care professionals worldwide, the death toll has crossed 0.5 million mark and is constantly rising with each passing day.[4] The most common manifestations of moderate to severely ill COVID-19 patient is reported to be persistent high fever, dyspnea, and respiratory distress, etc., that may further progress into interstitial pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), as the individual's clinical state worsens.[5]
ARDS in severe cases of COVID-19 patients occurs in response to the abundant release of inflammatory substances resulting in “cytokine storm.” Several studies suggest that oral bacteria are known to cause the production of cytokine from oral epithelial cells.[6],[7] Out of all the bacteria, the oral bacterium A. actinomycetemcomitans is the prolific and strongest stimulator for cytokine production in both oral epithelium and respiratory epithelium. It has the potential to elicit the cytokine production in respiratory epithelium similar to respiratory pathogens.[8]
Considering the cohesion between the inflammatory response caused by A. actinomycetemcomitans and COVID-19-related adverse events, the authors hypothesize that there could a possible common pathway between the two events. Therefore, it is suggestive that the individuals harboring A. actinomycetemcomitans due to periodontal infections are potentially at higher risk to develop severe respiratory distress if they contract COVID-19 infection. Future studies should elucidate the association between the two variables, and if the linkage is established, periodontal therapy should be incorporated in the treatment guidelines for the management of COVID-19 patients. Accordingly, healthy individuals should also be encouraged to maintain oral hygiene (in addition to hand hygiene), to prevent adverse events related to COVID-19.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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| 6. | Yumoto H, Nakae H, Fujinaka K, Ebisu S, Matsuo T. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-8 are induced in human oral epithelial cells in response to exposure to periodontopathic Eikenella corrodens. Infect Immun 1999;67:384-94. Available from: https://iai.asm.org/content/67/1/384. [Last accessed on 2020 Jul 01]. |
| 7. | Huang GT, Haake SK, Kim JW, Park NH. Differential expression of interleukin-8 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 by human gingival epithelial cells in response to Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans or Porphyromonas gingivalis infection. Oral Microbiol Immunol 1998;13:301-9. Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1399-302X.1998.tb00711.x. [Last accessed on 2020 Jul 01]. |
| 8. | Scannapieco FA, Wang B, Shiau HJ. Oral bacteria and respiratory infection: Effects on respiratory pathogen adhesion and epithelial cell proinflammatory cytokine production. Ann Periodontol 2001;6:78-86. Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1902/annals.2001.6.1.78. [Last accessd on 2020 Jul 01]. |
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