Long COVID, also known as a post-COVID-19 condition, is sometimes explained as symptoms that persist for 3 months or more after acute COVID-19. This disease can have effects and damage many organ systems, leading to a severe and long-term deterioration of functioning and a wide variety of symptoms, adding fatigue, cognitive impairment -called “brain fog”-, shortness of breath and pain.
Long COVID can affect almost anyone, including all age groups and children. It is more common among women and people with a lower socioeconomic level, and the reasons for these differences are being studied. Researchers have found that while other people gradually improve after long COVID. In others, the disease may persist for years. Many other people who developed COVID long before the arrival of vaccines are still not feeling well.
“Long COVID is a devastating disease with a profound human cost and socioeconomic impact,” said lead article Janko Nikolich, MD, PhD, director of the Aegis Consortium at the University of Health Sciences. Professor of Array and Head of the Department of Immunobiology at the University of Alberta-Tucson School of Medicine and member of the BIO Institute5. “By reading it in detail, we hope to perceive the mechanisms and locate cure targets opposed to this, but potentially also opposed to other complex chronic diseases related to infection, such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.
If a user has been fully vaccinated and has their booster shots up to date, their risk of long COVID is much lower. However, 3% to 5% of the rest of the world still suffer from long COVID after an acute COVID-19 infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, long COVID affects approximately 4% to 10% of the U. S. adult population. In the U. S. , 1 in 10 adults who have had long COVID spread.
The synthesis study also found that a wide diversity of biological mechanisms are involved, adding the patience of the original virus in the body, disruption of the overall immune response, and microscopic blood clotting, even in some other people who had only a mild initial infection. .
No remedy for long COVID has yet been proven, and existing disease control focuses on tactics to relieve symptoms or provide rehabilitation. Researchers say there is a pressing need to expand and verify biomarkers, such as blood tests, to diagnose and monitor long COVID and find treatments that address the root causes of the disease.
People can reduce their risk of getting long COVID by avoiding infection (for example, by wearing a well-fitting mask in crowded indoor spaces), taking antivirals temporarily if they get COVID-19, avoiding strenuous exercise, and making sure they are up to date on their COVID vaccines and boosters.
“Long COVID is a depressing disease, but there are reasons for cautious optimism,” said Trisha Greenhalgh, lead author of the study and a professor in Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences. “A number of mechanism-based remedies are being tested in study trials. If they prove effective, they would allow us to target specific subgroups of other people with precision therapies. Aside from remedies, it’s becoming increasingly clear that long COVID imposes a huge social and economic impact. “.
The full article, “Long COVID: A Clinical Update,” is in The Lancet.
Story Source:
Materials provided through the University of Arizona Health Sciences. Note: Content may be replaced in terms of flavor and length.
Magazine reference:
Stay informed with ScienceDaily’s free e-newsletter, updated daily and weekly. Or check out our news sources in your RSS reader:
Stay up to date with the latest social media news from ScienceDaily:
Let us know what you think of ScienceDaily: we appreciate positive and negative feedback. Do you have problems with the site? Any questions?