This looks sketchy to say the least (e.g all citations are self citations), but seems worth doing a very shallow dive into or pointing out if clearly flawed: claim that yogurt can prevent secondary bacterial pneumonia in COVID-19 patients. The argument seems to at least imply that secondary bacterial pneumonia leading to cytokine storm is a common pathway to fatal cases.
The article is talking about “live” yoghurt i.e. cultured milk with no other additives.
The main bacteria to culture milk into yogurt are:
Lactobacillus bulgaricus (Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus) and Streptococcus thermophilus.
In what countries do people eat a lot of natural live yoghurt? (per capita not overall amounts). Bulgaria (a clue in the name of the first bacterium) Russia? Greece? Spring to mind. Local knowledge would help here.
What are the demographics of those populations? (total population, % of old folks most likely to suffer severe disease)
What’s the COVID19 situation in these places?
The link says:
The cytokine storm is induced by the virus and the bacteria acting together.
I would want to see some evidence for this statement for instance levels of secondary infections being tested/confirmed/reported. (and the use of antibiotics as prophylactic or therapeutic agents - could antibiotics making things worse in some cases by killing of the good bacteria too????
This looks sketchy to say the least (e.g all citations are self citations), but seems worth doing a very shallow dive into or pointing out if clearly flawed: claim that yogurt can prevent secondary bacterial pneumonia in COVID-19 patients. The argument seems to at least imply that secondary bacterial pneumonia leading to cytokine storm is a common pathway to fatal cases.
(H/t Rob Wiblin on Twitter)
Some quick thoughts if anyone wants to do a dive:
The article is talking about “live” yoghurt i.e. cultured milk with no other additives.
The main bacteria to culture milk into yogurt are:
Lactobacillus bulgaricus (Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus) and Streptococcus thermophilus.
In what countries do people eat a lot of natural live yoghurt? (per capita not overall amounts). Bulgaria (a clue in the name of the first bacterium) Russia? Greece? Spring to mind. Local knowledge would help here.
What are the demographics of those populations? (total population, % of old folks most likely to suffer severe disease)
What’s the COVID19 situation in these places?
The link says:
I would want to see some evidence for this statement for instance levels of secondary infections being tested/confirmed/reported. (and the use of antibiotics as prophylactic or therapeutic agents - could antibiotics making things worse in some cases by killing of the good bacteria too????