<i>Enterococcus</i> and COVID-19: The Emergence of a Perfect Storm?

Abstract

(1) Background: Based on the uncontrolled use of antibiotics and the lack of worldwide-accepted healthcare policies, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the best premises for the emergence of life-threatening infections. Based on changes described in the intestinal microbiome, showing an increased number of Enterococcus bacteria and increased intestinal permeability due to viral infection, infections with Enterococcus have taken the spotlight in the healthcare setting; (2) Methods: We conducted a brief review in order to analyze the relationship between the two pathogens: the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the Enterococcus bacterial genus. We searched in PubMed, the Cochrane Library electronic database and MedNar and included twenty-one studies based on relevance; (3) Results: The existing studies show a statistically significant difference in the composition of the intestinal microbiome, favoring Enterococcus genus, when compared to a control group. Changes also seem to persist over a period of time, suggesting possible implications for long COVID. Regarding bloodstream infections, Enterococcus is statistically significantly isolated more often when compared to the pre-COVID-19 era, and to a control group of non-COVID-19 patients. (4) Conclusions: The intimate synergy between COVID-19 and Enterococcus has the potential to pose a real threat to human healthcare, and more extensive research is needed to explore the relationship between these two pathogens.

Keywords

• <i>Enterococcus</i>
• VRE
• COVID-19
• long COVID
• SARS-CoV-2