New research initiative focuses on long-term COVID root causes

a New research initiative We investigate whether coronavirus persistence in the body plays a role in the development of long COVID, a poorly understood syndrome in which symptoms can persist months or years after infection.

The Long Term COVID Research Initiative seeks to determine whether SARS-CoV-2 is still present in people with long-term symptoms and, if so, how it contributes to their illness.

Viral persistence in the body is one of several potential underlying causes of long-term COVID being investigated by scientists. Others include that the infection can cause blood clotting problems that damage the circulatory system. That the coronavirus destroys vital tissues during the acute phase of infection, which can prolong the illness. Viruses can also trigger an exaggerated immune response, causing harmful inflammation, or prompting certain antibodies to attack the patient’s own cells.

However, microbiologists Amy Proal, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of the Long-Term COVID Research Initiative, he said that viral reservoirs remaining in the body months or years after the infection has cleared “is a sign that patients are still symptomatic.” It is the simplest possibility of why there is, and in that sense it should also be explored that possibility first.”

Proal noted that COVID-19 is adept at evolving ways to evade the immune system’s defenses. “If the immune system does not recognize the virus, it is unlikely that it will be completely eliminated,” she said.

The new initiative, announced Wednesday night, Polybio Research Foundation is located in Medford, Massachusetts and funds projects from researchers at research institutions such as the University of California, San Francisco, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

According to a statement announcing the launch, the science investment fund, led by Ethereum Blockchain Network co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and the Jang Sung Siong Family Foundation, led by the Los Angeles Times, have raised $15 million to date. More than a dollar was said to have been invested. The owner, Dr. Patrick Sung Siong.

Overall, the goal is to raise $100 million to support the initiative, according to a foundation spokesperson.

Scientists will work in existing laboratories but will keep each other informed of their findings and share ideas, Proal said. The fruits of these efforts may be months, if not more.

Researchers have learned a lot about coronaviruses over the past two and a half years, but there are still many unknowns about COVID over the long term.

There is no easy way to diagnose or treat syndromeThis includes a range of symptoms including shortness of breath, chest pain, heart palpitations, diarrhea, fatigue, and neurological disturbances such as “brain fog” that makes it difficult to think and concentrate.

“Patients are suffering” AS Dr. Joanne Elmore, Professor of Medicine, Health Policy, and Management at UCLA. “I would love to be able to diagnose and treat things, but I have no evidence yet and it’s really frustrating.”

according to data As of early August, an estimated 1 in 13 adults nationwide experienced long-distance symptoms, according to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In that study, her long-term COVID was defined as symptoms he had not experienced before infection lasting more than three months.

Some persistent symptoms, such as loss of smell, are unique to COVID-19 and therefore more associated with previous infections. But other symptoms are harder to pin down.

“Fatigue?” said Elmore. Is it because of the long COVID, “or is it a symptom many of us may be feeling after the last two years of social isolation?”

One thing doctors know is that the long-term effects of COVID can be huge.

“In a population the size of the United States, if even 1% of people infected with COVID are affected, that’s a huge number of people,” Elmore said. “It’s devastating.”