Stimulate your Innate Immunity

to fight viral persistence

Lactobacillus for Long Covid

version 1.4 8/23/2022 Thomas Bunker PhD

v3.2 5/2022 - Thomas Bunker PhD

DISCLAIMER
This is not medical advice and I am not a medical doctor. This experimental protocol is
what is working for me and for some others in this group. It is in the early stages of
development. Advice offered or implied is based on what seemed to speed recovery for
a small number of individuals. If you have medical issues or specific questions about
how this guide might affect them you should contact your doctor or other medical
professional. While I strive to provide accurate information, be aware that information
contained herein could be incorrect or dated.
Keys to improvement
#1 Pace yourself
Avoid all strenuous exercise and major emotional stress. Know your limits. Don’t push yourself. Instead of
pushing, pace. Make small rest breaks a part of your daily routine. Avoiding relapses is key.

#2 Eat a healthy diet and limit your eating to a 10 - 12 hour daily window
Eat lots of vegetables and whole foods. Follow a no added sugar diet and avoid highly processed foods as
much as possible. Identify your food intolerances (e.g., wheat, histamines, alcohol, caffeine, etc.). Avoid
large meals. Eat your meals in the same window daily, for example from 7 am until 5 pm.

#3 Avoid “extra” supplements

Avoid "extra" supplements that constantly stress our cells and may interfere with periodic strong autophagy
and sounding the pathogen fire alarm. We all want to get better fast, but more supplements may do more
harm than good. Patience and persistence win this race.

#4 Try periodic dosing of Lactobacillus

Sound the pathogen “fire alarm” in infected cells via bacterial DNA fragments shed by Lactobacillus
bacteria. This stimulates hundreds of antiviral genes within our cells. Initially be cautious with the dosing
as it may cause a strong increase in symptoms. The bacterial DNA fragments from the Lactobacillus
bacteria also induce cellular housecleaning known as autophagy. Autophagy helps to enhance our
antiviral immune responses and makes virally infected cells visible to Natural Killer cells and Cytotoxic T
cells.

How might Lactobacillus improve symptoms?

Lactobacillus plantarum sheds tiny bubbles or “microvesicles” containing bacterial DNA
fragments. These microvesicles diffuse throughout your body, randomly fusing with millions -
perhaps billions - of your cells. Your cells detect the bacterial DNA with a pathogen sensor named
“cGAS-STING”. STING stands for stimulator of interferon genes. This is equivalent to sounding a
pathogen “fire alarm” in our body.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus produces 30 viral proteins. 16 of these proteins are now known to block
or interfere with pathogen sensors, interferon production and interferon signaling to neighboring
cells. Taking Lactobacillus bypasses some of these viral blocks and chips away at the viral
components which block interferon production.

Sometimes long-haulers can break-through the virus’ defensive shield quite suddenly. One
person told me that he took L plantarum daily for 20 days, then suddenly he had a big increase in
his symptoms (strong gut ache, nausea, and fever over 101F). Another person told me that he
took just 1/3 of a capsule and experienced a flare-up of his Long Covid symptoms on day 2 and
day 3. When I first took L plantarum - 10 billion cfu, I experienced a symptom flare-up on days 2,
3 and 4. It can increase the severity of existing symptoms, resurface old symptoms and
sometimes cause new long covid symptoms. If there is virus hiding anywhere in your body, this
will find it. After your immune system fights the viral infection (for a variable number of days) –
you return to your baseline Long Covid symptoms. After repeated cycles, hopefully, you will
notice decreases in the severity of your symptoms and perhaps some symptoms will go away
completely. The speed with which people recover from Long Covid and to what extent is variable
depending on many factors. I can say that over eight weeks, I have seen slow but significant
improvements in my baseline Long Covid symptoms. Still, this is an experimental – potential -
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self-treatment. To learn how Lactobacillus compares to periodic water fasting for reducing the
severity of Long Covid, I have created a new survey. Please consider providing timely data by
taking the survey before you try Lactobacillus and during the course of your self-treatments.

Lactobacillus for Long Covid / Vax Injury

https://forms.gle/qbVCykSrp9mNFejXA

How to dose Lactobacillus?

Regardless of its traditional use as an over-the-counter home remedy for diarrhea and similar
ailments, this is strong medicine for long-haulers - do not be fooled. Be cautious in your initial
use of Lactobacillus as it stays in your system for at least several days. Your increased
symptoms may last 2 or 3 days or longer - sometimes for more than a week!

A. Initial “break-through” of the viral defenses

1. Start with a small dose: 1/3 to 1/2 capsule of a 10 billion Lactobacillus dose. (3 to 5 billion cfu)
Wait for 3 days to see if your Long Covid symptoms increase or not. If they increase in severity –
use your response to decide if that was a strong enough dose or not.

2. If no obvious increase - Try a full capsule of Lactobacillus (10 billion cfu).

Wait for 3 days to see if your Long Covid symptoms increase or not. If they increase in severity –
use your response to decide if that was a strong enough dose or not.

3. If you still do not experience an increase in your symptoms, then take 1 capsule of 10 billion
Lactobacillus, and that evening take a 30 min hot bath or sauna. Use a thermometer and try to
get your core temperature to 102 F or 39 C for 5-10 min. This simulates a fever.
Wait for 3 days to see if your Long Covid symptoms increase or not.

4. If your symptoms still don’t increase, then take 1 capsule of 10-15 billion Lactobacillus with 2 tsps
of Manuka Honey (MGO 263+ / UMF10+). The MGO in this honey damages proteins and marks
them for cellular degradation. This may “take out” some of our normal cellular proteins along with
some of the problematic viral proteins.
Wait for 3 days to see if your Long Covid symptoms increase or not.

5. I none of the above actions have resulted in an increase in symptoms, then repeat the hot bath
and Manuka Honey options or try taking Lactobacillus daily for 1 week.

B. Frequency of Lactobacillus dosing

Take at most once a week, preferably 15 min before breakfast. You may experience mild
nausea, gut ache, a bloated gut feeling, and even develop a fever. In addition, on the second
and third days after taking Lactobacillus you may experience a significant flare-up of your Long
Covid / Vaccine Injured symptoms. I call this a “Verx” reaction. Sometimes the increase in
symptoms can last as long as 12 or 13 days. I believe this is a result of your body fighting the
persistent SARS-CoV-2 viral infection.
Use a dosage of Lactobacillus that you can tolerate. If your flare-ups are too strong or last
too long then decrease your dosage. Always allow a few rest days before taking your next dose.

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How to select Lactobacillus products?
Quite a number of Lactobacillus probiotic products are available in stores and online worldwide.
Many probiotic products contain a mix of 5 or 8 or 10 bacterial strains. Avoid these mixes. Instead
search for a single species Lactobacillus product containing Lactobacillus plantarum or
Lactobacillus rhamnosus. These are the best researched Lactobacillus species with regards to
both their antiviral activity and their safety. Both have been shown to stimulate the cGAS-STING
pathogen sensor in basic research. Over 109 human clinical trials (for various purposes) have
been performed with Lactobacillus supplements. Note that manufacturers often use specific
strains of L plantarum or L rhamnosus. 299v and GG are examples of specific strain names.

• Jarrow Ideal Bowel Support with LP299v is the one Tom has used the most.

• Culturelle produces several products with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. Tom has tried
the Health and Wellness product with 15 billion cfu per capsule. They also have products
with 5 billion cfu or 10 billion cfu or 20 billion cfu available. One Culturelle product with 2.5
billion cfu is sold for children aged 1 to 11.

• YourgutPlus+ is a product from the U.K. that is a mix of about 3.5 billion cfu of L
plantarum, 3.5 billion cfu of L rhamnosus and lesser amounts of three other Lactobacillus
species.

• Swanson L.plantarum has 10 billion cfu

• Smebiocta is a product from France that has 10 billion cfu of L plantarum.

• Smectaflora LP299V is available in the Czech Republic

• Salvat - Protransitus Lp is a product available in Spain with 10 billion of L plantarum

• Cipla - Activstart – Unobiotics is a product available via Amazon.India that has 6 billion
cfu of L rhamnosus GG.

• Aristo - Darolac IBS 10 billion cfu of L plantarum 299v By prescription in India

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Clinical Trials for Covid-19 and Long Covid w Lactobacillus
Mexico City probiotic trial for Covid-19 Pedro Gutiérrez-Castrellón, PhD et al.
We evaluated the efficacy and safety of a probiotic composed of three L. plantarum stains … and
one P. acidilacti strain in symptomatic Covid19 outpatients. Compared to placebo, we show that a
30-day intervention with this probiotic resulted in increased Covid19 remission.

https://www.ab-biotics.com/products/immune-health/#contentproducts

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.20.21256954v1.full.pdf

Daily Lactobacillus Probiotic versus Placebo in COVID-19-Exposed

Household Contacts

Paul E. Wischmeyer et al. , Duke University School of Medicine

Participants taking L. rhamnosus GG were less likely to develop symptoms (26%) versus those
that took placebo (43%).
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.04.21268275v1

Bedford study in UK – YourgutPlus+ Professor Robert Thomas et al.

This involved 126 patients with symptomatic covid and looked at the impact of the probiotic now
known as Yourgutplus+ Gut symptoms improved in 25 of 31 (82%) who reported them at
baseline. Two (1.5%) patients reported mild increased bloating and diarrhea.

http://www.cancernet.co.uk/phyto-v.htm

Impact of Lp299v on Vascular Function in Patients with PASC

Michael E. Widlansky, Medical College of Wisconsin
An active clinical trial –recruiting participants.

The investigators and others have established that an orally ingested probiotic (Lactobacillus plantarum
299v, Lp299v) reduces circulating levels of cell-free mitochondrial DNA (cf-mtDNA), decreases toll-like
receptor 9 (TLR9) activation [and downstream interleukin (IL-6)], and improves micro- and macrovascular
(brachial artery) endothelial dysfunction [as measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD%)] in humans.
Recently published data also report impaired brachial FMD% and increased vascular stiffness post-SARS-
CoV-2 infection. Based on these data, the investigators hypothesize that supplementation with Lp299v
will attenuate SARS-CoV-2 associated endothelial dysfunction

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05227170
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