People who have experienced a COVID infection may be at higher risk of developing an autoimmune disease. Viral infections are well known triggers of autoimmunity in genetically susceptible people. Fortunately there are things you can do to help protect your immune system and reduce the risk of this outcome.

Research conducted in South Korea looked at 354,527 people diagnosed with COVID-19 via a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test from October 8, 2020 to December 31, 2021. The researchers compared the COVID-19 group to 6,134,940 healthy people who didn’t get COVID-19 to assess the risk for autoimmune and autoinflammatory connective tissue diseases. They found the risk of alopecia areata, alopecia totalis, antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)–associated vasculitis, Crohn's disease, and sarcoidosis were higher in people who had a COVID infection.

People who experienced such a severe COVID-19  infection that they were admitted to the ICU were at greater risk for several autoimmune conditions, including alopecia totalis, psoriasis, vitiligo, and vasculitis.

It has been known for a long time that infections can be a trigger for autoimmune disease. This doesn’t happen in everyone; it tends to happen in people with a genetic susceptibility to autoimmune disease. People with autoimmune disease in their family. The infection can be like the straw that breaks the camel’s back, causing an autoimmune disease in at-risk individuals.

Long COVID and the immune system

Long COVID is becoming an increasingly common condition. It is a long lasting inflammatory state with chronic fatigue-type symptoms. I believe in some people this is a pre-autoimmune condition or a pre chronic fatigue syndrome condition.

Viruses and autoimmunity

The Epstein Barr virus that causes glandular fever is one of the most well known viral triggers of autoimmunity. This virus is in the herpes family of viruses and is an extremely common infection that just about everyone has suffered from at some point in their life. It’s quite a sinister virus though; it is capable of triggering 33 different autoimmune diseases. Obviously not everyone who has had glandular fever goes on to develop 33 autoimmune diseases, let alone one. This virus is simply one of the known triggers.

The Epstein Barr virus is most closely linked with the development of multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and Sjogren’s syndrome. Research has shown that some people with systemic lupus erythematosus have an elevated Epstein Barr viral load in their bloodstream. It may be more than 15 times greater than in healthy individuals. This means that some people are unable to clear the virus from their bloodstream because they have a weak immune system. The chronic stimulation of the immune system by the virus may go on for many years, and eventually lead to the development of an autoimmune disease.

Bacteria and autoimmunity

Streptococcal infections are very common. Strep throat is sometimes responsible for a sore throat, fever and enlarged lymph glands in the neck. The most common cause of a sore throat is a viral infection, while streptococcus is a type of bacteria. It is thought to be responsible for approximately 37 percent of cases of sore throat in children and only 5 to 15 percent in adults.

A small percentage of people who have had a strep infection go on to develop rheumatic fever, which is an autoimmune disease caused by antibody cross reactivity. The white blood cells had been producing antibodies against the strep bacteria, but for some reason the immune cells become confused and start making antibodies against the heart, skin, joints or brain. The surface molecules on the strep bacteria are so similar to some molecules of the human body, that a small percentage of people who get a strep infection go on to develop an autoimmune disease. Rheumatic fever can cause arthritis, myocarditis (inflammation of the heart), a skin rash and Sydenham chorea (a brain disease that causes involuntary movements of the face and arms). Strep infections are also capable of triggering autoimmune kidney disease (glomerulonephritis), PANDAS (Paediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections) and Tourette syndrome.

How to protect your body from infections

If you don’t recover quickly from an infection, the infection has more time to have destructive effects on your health. If you are stressed, not sleeping enough, not eating well and have nutrient deficiencies, this is more likely to happen. Almost all of my patients are found to have nutrient deficiencies when we test them.

Fortunately there is a lot that can be done to improve the health of a person with autoimmune disease, and many people are able to recover fully.

  • A healthy diet is critical. Try to prepare most of your meals yourself and base them on protein, vegetables, fruit, nuts and natural fats. Home cooked meals such as salads, soups, stews and roasts will provide your body with more nutrients than takeaway or microwave meals.
  • Raw vegetable juices are a concentrated source of the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that your immune system requires. See the book Raw Juices Can Save Your Life for recipe ideas.
  • Vitamin D is important and most people aren’t getting enough. Vitamin D has so many critical benefits in your body. You make vitamin D in your body when your skin is exposed to the sun’s UVB rays. During winter, in most parts of the world it is impossible to get enough vitamin D because the sun is too weak and it’s too cold to go outside wearing very little. Not many foods contain much vitamin D, so that’s when a supplement becomes important.
  • Selenium helps fight viruses in your body. Selenium also reduces the ability of a virus to mutate into a more aggressive (virulent) form and increases the chances that the virus will stay inactive or less active and not harm you. A normally harmless (or low-pathogenic) virus can become much more destructive (virulent) in a person who is selenium deficient. Selenium-deficient mice infected with a mild strain of influenza virus developed much more severe and protracted inflammation of their lungs, compared to selenium-plentiful mice infected with the same virus. A lack of selenium causes a decrease in the production of selenium dependent proteins that keep viruses under control. This is serious and can result in worse outcomes for people infected with many types of nasty viruses including hepatitis A and B viruses, Ebola, polio, AIDS, influenza and the human papilloma virus (which causes cervical and oral cancer).
  • Zinc is very important for a healthy immune system and most of my female patients are deficient. Zinc is found in red meat and seafood. Many people don’t eat enough of those foods. Zinc has powerful anti-viral effects. Zinc deficiency is harmful to white blood cells and the thymus gland. Zinc deficiency causes a decrease in natural killer cell activity and increased susceptibility to infections.
  • Try to get sufficient good quality sleep. You can be doing all the right things with your diet and exercise, but if you are continually sleep deprived and stressed out, your immune system will suffer. Most people need 7 to 8 hours of good quality sleep each night. If you regularly do not get enough sleep, it will be much more difficult for your immune system to ward off an infection, and it will take you much longer to recover. A cold that may have lasted 3 days can linger for two weeks if you don’t receive deep, restorative sleep. Just about everyone finds that magnesium improves their sleep quality and helps them to feel less stressed and anxious during the day. I typically recommend a teaspoon of magnesium powder with the evening meal.

For more information about immune system health see our book Healing Autoimmune Disease: A plan to help your immune system and reduce inflammation.

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