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1/ #LongCovid: What do you need to know?
While we are fighting harder than ever to reduce the number of new #COVID19 cases, health professionals are already concerned about long term affects of this debilitating disease. Here is some information that many will find useful.
While we are fighting harder than ever to reduce the number of new #COVID19 cases, health professionals are already concerned about long term affects of this debilitating disease. Here is some information that many will find useful.
2/ For many, contracting #COVID19 result in unfortunate consequences, for others, #COVID19 will result in a mild disease. Yet, there is a group of people who struggle with symptoms for a long period of time. This class of disease has been dubbed as #LongCovid
3/ Researchers at King’s College London, found that #LongCovid affects around 10% of 18-49 years old who become unwell with Covid-19, with the percentage rising to 22% for those over 70s https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.19.20214494v1
4/ A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 87% of the patients had at least one of the symptoms nearly two months after they left the hospital and at least half still had fatigue https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2768351
5/ While there are no defined symptoms associated with #LongCovid the most common affect seem to be individuals suffering from crippling fatigue long after other clinically defined symptoms have been cleared.
6/ Others symptoms include: breathlessness, persistent cough, body/muscle aches & pains, headaches, and even long term damage to the heart, lungs and kidneys.
7/ Data shows no association of #LongCovid with severity of disease. A study conducted in Dublin shows that 50% of the people still had fatigue 10 weeks after being infected with coronavirus while 1/3 were physically unable to return to work. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.29.20164293v1
8/ While the research community is working hard to understand any and all aspects of these affects, there are many theories around the actual cause of #LongCovid including the possibility of sub-detection levels of #SARSCoV2 lingering in the body.
9/ Other theories include the idea that since #SARSCoV2 can infect a wide variety of cells in the body, it has the potential to trigger an overactive immune response which also causes damage throughout the body.
10/ The British Society for Immunology has provided a great summary of what we do and don’t currently know about the long-term immunological health consequences of #LongCovid
https://www.immunology.org/sites/default/files/BSI_Briefing_Note_August_2020_FINAL.pdf
https://www.immunology.org/sites/default/files/BSI_Briefing_Note_August_2020_FINAL.pdf
11/ Post-viral fatigue is well documented and common. For example, patients who survive influenza A (H7N9) virus infection showed physical and psychological complications of lung injury and multi-organ dysfunction. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17497-6
12/ The key to how each person responds to #COVID19 might be in our genes. Multiple studies have shown that host factors are at the forefront for the variables affecting the disease manifestation #HostSeq #CanCOGeN https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.586111/full
13/ A recent study from UK finds variants of five key genes responsible for symptoms associated with COVID-19. These & other genes could also be involved in long-term affects of #COVID19 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03065-y
