Letter to the Editor: Microbiota in the Respiratory System—A PossibleExplanation to Age and Sex Variability in Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2

摘要

The Human respiratory tract is colonized by a variety of microbes and the microbiotachange as we age. In this perspective, literature support is presented for the hypothesisthat the respiratory system microbiota could explain the differential age and sexbreakdown amongst COVID-19 patients. The number of patients in the older and elderly adultgroup is higher than the other age groups. The perspective presents the possibility thatcertain genera of bacteria present in the respiratory system microbiota in children andyoung adults could be directly or through eliciting an immune response from the host,prevent full-fledged infection of SARS-CoV-2. The possibility also exists that themicrobiota in older adults and the elderly population have bacteria that make it easierfor the virus to cause infection. I call upon the scientific community to investigate thelink between human microbiota and SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility to further understand theviral pathogenesis.