Study of the mysterious “long COVID” symptom of picking up steam

The long-term effects of COVID-19 continue to be vague issues full of anxious concerns such as persistent heart and nerve damage, but efforts to understand them have increased strength and urgency. I am.

Last week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Updated public guidance Sometimes called “long covid”, some patients are called “long howler”.On Sunday, the UK National Health Service said Organize a network of over 40 specialized clinics Launch a task force whose mission is to help patients and better understand what LongCOVID is.

CDC says researchers are learning “Many organs other than the lungs are affected by COVID-19, and there are many ways in which an infection can affect someone’s health.” In addition, people have very mild COVID-19. He says that even if you have the first attack, you can have troublesome symptoms afterwards. These include fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, joint pain and chest pain, as well as “brain fog”, depression, muscle aches, headaches, intermittent fever and palpitation.

You may not have a quick answer. According to the CDC, a “multi-year study” seeks to answer “how common these symptoms are, who is most likely to develop them, and whether these symptoms will eventually resolve.”

The same unknown is facing the NHS, and we believe that more than 60,000 people in the UK may be suffering from Long COVID. “Recent evidence also shows that long COVIDs can be classified into four different syndromes,” he said. NHS Announcement Announced on Sunday.. It identifies these as “post-intensive care syndrome, post-viral fatigue syndrome, permanent organ damage and long-term COVID syndrome”.

“Long COVIDs are already having a very serious impact on the lives of many and can affect hundreds of thousands,” said Sir Simon Stevens, CEO of the NHS. I will. “These pioneering” long COVID “clinics help address the very real problems facing patients today, and the Task Force understands the persistent effects of the NHS on the coronavirus. Helps to deepen. “

World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus He recently described the extent of the serious long-term consequences as “really concerned.” He said the unknown danger “reinforces me how morally conscientious and infeasible the so-called” natural herd immunity “strategy is.”

The vast amount of unknowns is a concern headline for research papers and medical publications. One of the widespread concerns is that Long COVID could put a new long-term burden on the healthcare system.Two areas of particular concern are long-term Neurological disorders And Heart trouble Caused by COVID-related inflammation.

But for now, it’s even a challenge to figure out how many of the COVID-19 cases lead to long-term COVID symptoms. Early studies on the number of people who were still symptomatic 90 days after infection ranged from less than 10% to 25%. New Washington Post Report Summarize the state of understanding of long COVID.

The numbers may not be in focus until scientists better understand how COVID-19 affects the nerves, heart, and even the digestive system.

“I’ve never really seen any other disease affecting as many different organ systems as COVID-19,” said Zijian Chen, medical director of the Post-COVID Care Center at Mount Sinai Health System. Told the post..

Searching for answers is a complex business that involves many areas, but the good news is that any of them can create breakthroughs. One of the problems scientists have cited since the beginning of the pandemic is that COVID-19 can provoke a wild reaction from the immune system, causing as much damage as the disease itself.

by Latest report from Kaiser Health News There is new insight into that issue. Researchers believe they have found a genetic explanation. This can explain why some people get sick more than others. It can lead to “targeted therapies” for people whose immune system is prone to friendly fire.

“This is one of the most important things we’ve learned about the immune system since the pandemic began,” said Dr. Eric Topol, executive vice president of research at Scripps Research in San Diego, who was involved in the new study. I didn’t. , Said in the Kaiser report.. “This is a breakthrough discovery.”