What is Long Covid?

While everyone has undoubtedly heard a lot about COVID-19 over the past four years, there's one big question that many people still have: “What is Long Covid?”

Long-Covid is the disease that develops after infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid. An estimated 400 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with the disease since 2020 (this figure is expected to grow by 1.5 billion in the coming years). Probably an underestimate), according to one study Published The findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine on August 9. The researchers also estimated that the disease will have an annual economic impact of about $1 trillion worldwide due to treatment costs, financial strain on support systems like disability benefits, and negative effects on key labor market indicators like productivity.

If you're not sure what Long Covid is, how it's diagnosed and treated, or how long it might last, Healthcare Brew has put together an explanation.

What is Long Covid?

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which advises the U.S. government on science and technology issues, published a definition of long COVID in June 2024 that has been adopted by organizations such as the World Health Organization. The academies classify long COVID as “a chronic infection-related illness that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and involves continuous, relapsing, remitting, or progressive disease affecting one or more organ systems for at least 3 months.”

According to M. Aruna Lochan, a nurse practitioner at the Cleveland Clinic, the disease can have a variety of symptoms that affect different parts of the body, including the heart, lungs and brain.

How is Long Covid diagnosed?

Experts say diagnosing Long Covid can be difficult because its definition is still relatively vague: There is no definitive lab test to determine if a patient is infected, and no specific symptoms that lead to a diagnosis.

Instead, Lochan said doctors will look at factors such as when a patient first became ill, whether they were tested for COVID-19 when their symptoms began and how long their symptoms have lasted.

What are the common symptoms of Long Covid?

There are many different symptoms that fall under the umbrella of Long Covid. CDC says Over 200 have been identified.

But some commonalities are emerging: Dr. Lochan said the most common symptoms he's heard from patients include respiratory symptoms like shortness of breath, cough and chest discomfort, and neurological issues like brain fog and difficulty concentrating.

Nisha Viswanathan, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), said the most common symptoms she has seen include fatigue, chest pain and palpitations.

But less common symptoms such as sleep problems and hair loss could also be indicative of long-covid, he said. Nebraska Medicine.

While the study is still inconclusive, a team from the Yale School of Medicine Theorized Long Covid can also lead to autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

How do we treat Long Covid?

Because the symptoms of Long Covid are numerous and vary from patient to patient, treatment varies greatly depending on “what the primary concern that the patient wants resolved,” Lochan said.

Viswanathan, an internist and co-director of UCLA's Long Term COVID Clinic, said common treatments to manage symptoms include physical therapy and medication.

“This is not a one-size-fits-all approach,” she says. “It really depends on what symptoms you suffer from, how severe they are, and how they're impacting your life.”

For example, if a patient's main concern is respiratory symptoms, a doctor might test for conditions such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and treat them based on the results, Lochan said.

But how? length Will the long coronavirus pandemic continue?

Just as there are different treatments for long COVID, the duration of the illness also varies from patient to patient.

Lochan said some patients recover within a few months of being diagnosed with Long Covid, but some are still suffering from symptoms even four years later.

Viswanathan said some patients may go into remission only to have their symptoms return with another viral illness, such as the common cold.

If Long Covid has symptoms similar to other infectious disease-related chronic illnesses such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, some patients may experience symptoms for the rest of their lives, said Stephanie Gratch, a general medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Does Corona Booster help reduce the risk of Long Corona?

A strong line of defense against facing lifelong symptoms could be a booster shot against COVID-19.

There is also data suggesting that a vaccine and booster shot reduces the risk of long-term COVID infection, Gracchi said. For example, a study published in the medical journal The Lancet in March 2024 showed that getting vaccinated reduced the risk of developing long-term COVID by 52%.

But booster COVID-19 vaccination rates have been minimal: As of May 2024, only 22.5% of U.S. adults reported receiving an updated vaccine after September 2023, according to CDC statistics.

Studies are also underway to see whether coronavirus treatments such as Pfizer's antiviral drug Paxlovidone can help treat or reduce the risk of long-term coronavirus. A study conducted by Stanford University in June 2024 showed that administering Paxlovidone for 15 days reduced the risk of COVID-19 infection. It didn't seem to help Long term corona patients.

In general, Viswanathan believes the data is still inconclusive on whether booster shots help reduce long-Covid symptoms.

“Some studies say it may work, some studies say it may not,” she said. “I don't think we can say yet with any certainty that this is a real option for long-term COVID treatment.”

What happens next?

Overall, there are still many unknowns about Long Covid, and researchers are working hard to find answers.

For example, since 2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has: Recovery Initiative The goal is to “fully understand, diagnose, and treat long-COVID.” The trial is involving about 90,000 people at 300 research sites across the U.S., and the program has received just over $1.5 billion in federal funding. In February, the NIH announced in a press release that it would invest an additional $515 million over the next four years to continue long-COVID research.

Specifically, researchers hope the Recover Initiative will help them understand how the virus that causes COVID-19 affects different parts of the body, which treatments may be effective in treating long-term COVID-19, and why some people make a full recovery while others don't.

“There's a lot of research and studies being done in this area,” Viswanathan said. “I think at the end of the day, especially in the past year, we've learned quite a bit.”