Long COVID Study | 13newsnow.com

Norfolk, Virginia — For millions of Americans like Johnathan Stanley, a negative COVID test doesn’t necessarily mean the fight against the virus is over. That’s because they deal with “long COVID”.

Recently, 13News Now Taught me about the battle of Stanley..

“I went to the doctor and they said,’This is part of the long-term impact we talked about as long-haul carriers,'” he said.

Since Stanley had a second COVID-19 infection nine months ago and was admitted to the hospital, he is still trying to heal. He lost £ 135, the taste and smell of his senses, and his voice.

“I use my voice above all else,” he said.

To make matters worse, his doctor also believes that he developed cancer of the throat because of the cough and the tension that the virus put on his body.

“This is the theory that they have it with all coughs and everything,” he explained. “It has exacerbated certain cells in me that have lived and caused this cancer.”

Related: Long COVID: Fighting a Norfolk Man Against the Prolonged Effects of the Virus

Stanley isn’t the only one on the long road to recovery.

“Long COVID is real” Dr. Priyadagal, Professor of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

She said that worldwide, an estimated one-third of those who had COVIDs are now considered long-haul carriers. According to Duggal, 3-5% of people who test positive for COVID have long-term symptoms and feel they can function in their daily lives.

“Even if we consider this to be 1%, it will affect 800,000, given that 80 million people in the United States are infected with COVID-19.”

WHO defines “long COVID” as “new or persistent symptoms that last for more than 2 months, 3 months after the initial infection.”

Medical experts say it doesn’t matter how serious your age, race, gender, or your infection was, based on what they know: everyone is at risk of a long COVID. It has been.

“No one has a free pass,” Duggal said.

Long COVID symptoms can range from mobility problems to congestive heart failure to mental illness. Mr. Dagal said there is still a lot of unknowns about what constitutes a symptom.

So what are doctors doing?

“At this time, there is no specific long COVID treatment,” she said. “One of the reasons is that we don’t understand the mechanism of long COVID.”

That is, doctors still do not know how the sustained effects of COVID will attack the body.

She said antiviral drugs could work if it was an extra virus. If it is an immune response response, the physician needs to find a way to control the initial immune response.

“We know that individuals and certain organs may have traces of the virus, which means that particles of the virus remain, but not necessarily in storage, but will emerge in future research. There is a possibility.”

If you’re dealing with long COVIDs, the good news is. Johns Hopkins has begun a long COVID study. We plan to survey a total of 25,000 people. So far, there are 15,000.

The goal is to quantify the number of people dealing with this and the risk factors.

She said they hope to get the first results from their research on the effects on mobility by this summer.

So far, long COVID interdisciplinary clinics have been opened nationwide.

“This provides a specialist who can handle a number of symptoms,” says Duggal.

If you are suffering from symptoms, there is a clinic in Richmond, Lynchburg. Norfolk at Center Lahart Hospital.. But as more people become infected with the virus and fight ongoing symptoms, there are concerns about what it means for the healthcare system.

“Overall, there is a general concern about who is qualified and can treat a surge in numbers of patients with long COVIDs.”

Duggal said the best way to avoid potential long-term symptoms is to avoid infection or reinfection.

“It is not yet clear whether vaccines and boosters protect you from long COVIDs, or whether different SARS-Cov-2 variants can have different long-term consequences, but those who have been vaccinated. We find that few people report long COVID symptoms in the hospital, “she says. she said.

Meanwhile, Stanley is working with his doctor to overcome his long-distance symptoms.

“This is just a season. It will be gone. I will be better,” he asserted.

He said first, his doctor will put a feeding tube. He then begins radiation therapy 5 days a week for 7 weeks and chemotherapy once a week for 4 hours.