O impacto da pandemia da COVID-19 na microbiota intestinal do lactente

Abstract

COVID-19 has resulted in thousands of deaths and until now is affecting many patients with its implications. One of the consequences of the disease was social isolation, carried out by almost all countries, which resulted in changes in different patterns of coexistence and mainly exposure to other non-pathogenic and pathogenic agents essential for the development of the microbiota. Therefore, the following project aims to describe the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the microbiota of infants during the pandemic period and the consequences generated on the immature immune system, damaging its development and maturation and relating microbiology, essentially intestinal, throughout the project. The methodology consists of the analysis and selection of scientific articles published in the last 10 years with the help of specific Health Sciences Descriptors in English and Portuguese for the research topic, with the combination of descriptors made using Boolean operators. It is concluded that the composition of the intestinal microbiota begins in utero and is influenced by the mode of delivery, skin-to-skin contact after birth, and the presence of maternal breastfeeding. Modifying practices during the COVID-19 pandemic may alter neonatal microbiology and impact the maturation of the infant's immune system, potentially predisposing them to future gastrointestinal, metabolic, and atopic diseases such as asthma.