Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jan 19, 2026 1 month, 2 weeks, 4 days, 3 hours, 3 minutes ago
Medical News: Long COVID continues to trouble millions worldwide, with sufferers reporting persistent exhaustion, brain fog, and problems controlling heart rate and blood pressure long after the initial infection has passed. Scientists are increasingly looking beyond the lungs and brain to understand why these symptoms linger. One emerging suspect is the gut, particularly a condition known as increased intestinal permeability, sometimes described as a “leaky gut.” This
Medical News report explores new findings that shed light on this hidden connection.
New evidence suggests a leaky gut may worsen long COVID fatigue and could be a future treatment target
Study Overview and Case Details
The study by medical researchers form Charité University Medicine Berlin-Germany focused on a 60-year-old woman who developed long COVID after a SARS-CoV-2 infection and endured severe fatigue and autonomic dysfunction for more than three years. Researchers repeatedly measured her intestinal permeability at five different time points using a carbohydrate absorption test, a method not previously reported in long COVID patients. This test compares how two sugars, lactulose and mannitol, pass through the gut lining into the urine.
Key Findings Explained Simply
Results showed that during periods when the patient’s fatigue and other symptoms worsened, her lactulose to mannitol ratio rose sharply, indicating a leakier gut barrier. When her symptoms eased, this ratio fell. A second COVID-19 infection caused another spike in intestinal permeability, again matching a flare in fatigue. Importantly, treatment with probiotics containing Bacillus coagulans and Bacillus subtilis, followed by a course of medicinal clay, was linked to measurable gut improvement and noticeable relief from fatigue.
Why These Findings Matter
This case strongly suggests that gut barrier damage may influence how severe long COVID symptoms become. It also hints that restoring gut health could help some patients feel better.
Conclusions
Overall, these findings support the idea that intestinal permeability may act as a biological marker and treatment target in long COVID, warranting larger studies to confirm cause, mechanism, and therapeutic potential.
The study findings were published as an abstract in the peer reviewed journal: Frontiers in Medicine.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2026.1725242/abstract
For the latest on Long COVID, keep on logging to Thailand
Medical News.
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https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/long-covid
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