Oral Microbiota Alterations in Subjects with SARS-CoV-2 Displaying Prevalence of the Opportunistic Fungal Pathogen Candida albicans

The oral cavity remains an underappreciated site for SARS-CoV-2 infection despite the myriad of oral conditions in COVID-19 patients. Recently, SARS-CoV-2 was shown to replicate in the salivary gland cells causing tissue inflammation. Given the established association between inflammation and microbiome disruption, we comparatively profiled oral microbial differences at a metagenomic level in a cohort of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and matched healthy controls. Specifically, we aimed to evaluate colonization by the opportunistic fungal pathogen