@article {47134,
	title = {Probiotics in the prophylaxis of COVID-19: something is better than nothing},
	journal = {3 Biotech},
	volume = {11},
	year = {2021},
	month = {JAN},
	type = {Review},
	abstract = {<p>The new viral pandemic of COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that has brought the world at another unprecedented crisis in terms of health and economy. The lack of specific therapeutics necessitates other strategies to prevent the spread of infection caused by this previously unknown viral etiological agent. Recent pieces of evidence have shown an association between COVID-19 disease and intestinal dysbiosis. Probiotics comprise living microbes that upon oral administration benefit human health by reshaping the composition of gut microbiota. The close kinship of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract suggests why the dysfunction of one may incite illness in others. The emerging studies suggest the capability of probiotics to regulate immune responses in the respiratory system. The efficacy of probiotics has been studied previously on several respiratory tract viral infections. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to comprehend existing information on the gut mediated-pulmonary immunity conferred by probiotic bacteria, in the course of respiratory virus infections and administration as a prophylactic measure in COVID-19 pandemic in managing intestinal dysbiosis as well.</p>
},
	keywords = {Anti-viral, COVID-19, Gut-lung axis, Probiotics, Respiratory tract infection},
	issn = {2190-572X},
	doi = {10.1007/s13205-020-02554-1},
	author = {Gohil, Kushal and Samson, Rachel and Dastager, Syed and Dharne, Mahesh}
}
@article {48995,
	title = {Genomic surveillance reveals early detection and transition of delta to omicron lineages of SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater treatment plants of Pune, India},
	journal = {Environmental Science and Pollution Research },
	volume = {30},
	year = {2023},
	month = {DEC},
	pages = {118976-118988},
	type = {Article},
	abstract = {<p>
	The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the urgency for rapid public health surveillance methods to detect and monitor the transmission of infectious diseases. The wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as a promising tool for proactive analysis and quantification of infectious pathogens within a population before clinical cases emerge. In the present study, we aimed to assess the trend and dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 variants using a longitudinal approach. Our objective included early detection and monitoring of these variants to enhance our understanding of their prevalence and potential impact. To achieve our goals, we conducted real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Illumina sequencing on 442 wastewater (WW) samples collected from 10 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Pune city, India, spanning from November 2021 to April 2022. Our comprehensive analysis identified 426 distinct lineages representing 17 highly transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2. Notably, fragments of Omicron variant were detected in WW samples prior to its first clinical detection in Botswana. Furthermore, we observed highly contagious sub-lineages of the Omicron variant, including BA.1 (similar to 28\%), BA.1.X (1.0-72\%), BA.2 (1.0-18\%), BA.2.X (1.0-97.4\%) BA.2.12 (0.8-0.25\%), BA.2.38 (0.8-1.0\%), BA.2.75 (0.01-0.02\%), BA.3 (0.09-6.3\%), BA.4 (0.24-0.29\%), and XBB (0.01-21.83\%), with varying prevalence rates. Overall, the present study demonstrated the practicality of WBE in the early detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants, which could help track future outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2. Such approaches could be implicated in monitoring infectious agents before they appear in clinical cases.</p>
},
	keywords = {Bioinformatics pipeline, COVID-19, Early warning, India, Next-generation sequencing, Omicron, Public health, SARS-CoV-2, wastewater, Wastewater-based epidemiology},
	issn = {0944-1344},
	doi = {10.1007/s11356-023-30709-z},
	author = {Rajput, Vinay and Pramanik, Rinka and Malik, Vinita and Yadav, Rakeshkumar and Samson, Rachel and Kadam, Pradnya and Bhalerao, Unnati and Tupekar, Manisha and Deshpande, Dipti and Shah, Priyanki and Shashidhara, L. S. and Boargaonkar, Radhika and Patil, Dhawal and Kale, Saurabh and Bhalerao, Asim and Jain, Nidhi and Kamble, Sanjay and Dastager, Syed and Karmodiya, Krishanpal and Dharne, Mahesh}
}
