COVID-19 has been the headline of world news since 2019 and continues to be a major part of it to this day, especially due to the increase in variants and the profound morbidity (rate of disease infection) and mortality rates. Some symptoms of this virus are lasting for longer periods of time – even after receiving a negative test result – and as a consequence, leading to chronic weakness and other ongoing health problems. Researchers are now referring to this new condition as long-COVID or Post-COVID Syndrome.
It is very important to note that data regarding long-COVID development, duration, and possible treatments, are still very limited. Therefore, researchers have been focusing on researching the symptoms that exist after infection and its possible early features. As for now, long-COVID is diagnosed when symptoms do not have an alternative explanation, and they are normally reported by people twelve weeks after a probable or confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 infection [1,2]. The World Health Organization (WHO) adds unto that definition, stating that these reported symptoms have to last at least for two months [3].
Long-COVID can affect different organs, and its symptoms are highly subjective to each person. Even though there is an absence of a complete consensus as to what exactly constitutes the symptoms of long-COVID, these are some clinical manifestations reported by participants across several studies [1-7]:
Breathing difficulties/breathlessness
Fatigue
Chest and/or throat pain
Headache
Abdominal symptoms
Myalgia (muscle pain)
Cognitive symptoms (memory and attention deficits)
Anxiety and/or depression
Sleeping disorders
Change in smell and/or taste
Changes in menstrual period cycles
There are several hypotheses as to what causes long-COVID. Some researchers hypothesize that it is due to the increased activity of the immune system, thrombosis, and/or hormonal dysregulation. Dennis et al. use MRI to show that multi-organ dysfunction, which are inflamed in recovering patients, can be the cause [6]. Lastly, an interesting hypothesis by Sykes et al. suggest that long-COVID is due to a neuropsychiatric post-COVID-19 symptom burden, and not a physiological condition [2].
How do you know if you have long-COVID?
If you have any of the symptoms listed above, please see your family doctor. It is likely that your physician will run a series of tests to ensure that there are not any underlying diseases involved. However, it is important to understand that long-COVID is still undergoing extensive research and a standard test has yet to be developed.
If you want to know more about who gets long-COVID and if the current vaccine protects you against it, stay tuned for future posts!
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Written by: Phaedra
Edited by: María and Natasha
BioDecoded is a volunteer group committed to sharing accurate scientific information. For more information about vaccines and their safety profile, please see previous posts or consult with your personal physician. If you have any questions about this topic, please comment or send them to our email.
References:
Yelin, D. et al. (2021) “Long COVID-19—it’s not over until?”, Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 27(4), pp. 506-508. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33316400/
Sykes, D. et al. (2021) “Post-COVID-19 Symptom Burden: What is Long-COVID and How Should We Manage It?”, Lung, 199(2), pp. 113-119. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33569660/
A clinical case definition of post COVID-19 condition by a Delphi consensus, 6 October 2021. World Health Organization (2022). Available at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-Post_COVID-19_condition-Clinical_case_definition-2021.1 (Accessed: 9 February 2022).
Carvalho-Schneider, C. et al. (2021) “Follow-up of adults with noncritical COVID-19 two months after symptom onset”, Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 27(2), pp. 258-263. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33031948/
Taquet, M. et al. (2021) “Incidence, co-occurrence, and evolution of long-COVID features: A 6-month retrospective cohort study of 273,618 survivors of COVID-19”, PLOS Medicine, 18(9), p. e1003773. Available at: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003773
A, Dennis. et al. (2021) “Multiorgan impairment in low-risk individuals with post-COVID-19 syndrome: a prospective, community-based study”, BMJ open, 11(3), p. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33785495/
Penetra, S. et al. (2022) “Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome after reinfection and vaccine breakthrough by the SARS-CoV-2 Gamma variant in Brazil”, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 114, pp. 58-61. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33785495/
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