Epstein-Barr can play a role in long COVIDs.Coronavirus can impair blood sugar processing by organs

Enters the COVID-19 inspection queue in Macau, China, June 20, 2022.Reuters / John Mack

June 27 (Reuters)-The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They require further research to support the findings and include studies that have not yet been certified by peer review.

Epstein-Barr virus can play a role in some long COVID cases

According to the results of a preliminary study in one study, COVID-19 may reactivate a common virus that is not found in most people, and its effects pose a risk to patients with certain long-term symptoms. It may increase. Over 90% of adults are infected with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Most remained asymptomatic, but some developed mononucleosis as adolescents or young adults.

Of the 280 patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, including 208 with a long COVID, the researchers were study participants with blood immune cells showing recent signs of EBV, 4 months after diagnosis. Fatigue and thought and reasoning problems have been found to be more common in rejuvenation. However, these signs of reactivation were not associated with other long COVID findings, such as gastrointestinal, heart, or lung problems. Also, EBV itself was not found in the patient’s blood.This suggests that reactivation is transient and likely to occur during acute COVID-19, Dr. Timothy Henrich and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco. Report on medRxiv Prior to peer review.

The findings do not prove that reactivation of EBV caused the patient’s symptoms, Henrich said. And even so, “many other long-term COVID symptoms, such as the long-term intra-tissue persistent SARS-CoV-2 virus and the dysregulated immune system that can result from the persistent virus. There is likely a cause, “he said. “There is an urgent need for further research on various tissues, as well as studies that follow participants months or years after the acute infection.”

SARS-CoV-2 can impair blood glucose processing by organs

Infection with the coronavirus impairs the activity of multiple genes involved in the body’s chemical processes, including glycemic metabolism, and for the first time researchers have identified these effects not only in the patient’s respiratory tract but also elsewhere in the body. did.

Japanese researchers analyze blood and tissue samples from mild or severe COVID-19 patients and healthy volunteers to assess the “expression” (or activity level) of genes that regulate so-called insulin / IGF signaling pathways. Did. Physical functions required for metabolism, growth, and fertility. “The results were impressive,” Ichiro Shimomura, a research leader at Osaka University, said in a statement. “SARS-CoV-2 infection affected the expression of insulin / IGF signaling pathway components in lung, liver, adipose tissue, and pancreatic cells.” The resulting disruption of blood glucose metabolism is COVID to organs. The researchers said they were likely to contribute to the effects of -19.

They reported that changes due in part to the inflammatory response of the immune system to the virus were more pronounced in patients with severe COVID-19. Journal metabolism.. In in vitro experiments, dexamethasone, which is known to benefit inpatients with COVID-19, helped mitigate the adverse effects of the virus on genes.

New discoveries may provide clues as to why some patients develop metabolic complications such as insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and new onset of diabetes during or after COVID-19. Researchers said it couldn’t.

New data supports 5 days of isolation and 5 days of masking

The new study supports current guidelines that require a 5-day quarantine period for COVID-19 infection, followed by a rigorous 5-day masking, to help prevent infection from cases that remain culture-positive.

Researchers at the University of Boston School of Medicine have at least 10 days from 92 vaccinated college students and staff infected with the delta or omicron variant of coronavirus to analyze with PCR and the type of rapid antigen test available at home. Daily nasal swabs were collected and used. Only 17% of these young, healthy adults tested positive after 5 days, and no one was infected more than 12 days after the onset of symptoms, the researchers reported. Clinical infections.. According to the report, the results were similar regardless of the mutant or vaccine booster status, and it was very reliable that the rapid antigen test was negative.

Rapid antigen testing “may provide a sense of security for lack of infectivity … requires a full 10 days to prevent infection from 17 percent of individuals who remain culture-positive after quarantine.” Leader Dr. Tara Bouton said in a statement.

Click Reuters graphics About the vaccine under development.

Report by Nancy Rapid; Edited by Bill Berkrot

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