<
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00493-2/fulltext>
"March 11 marks 3 years since WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. While the
world is determined to move on from the acute phase, at least 65 million people
are estimated to struggle with long COVID, a debilitating post-infection
multisystem condition with common symptoms of fatigue, shortness of breath, and
cognitive dysfunction, impairing their ability to perform daily activities for
several months or years. Although the majority of patients infected with
SARS-CoV-2 recover within a few weeks, long COVID is estimated to occur in
10–20% of cases and affects people of all ages, including children, with most
cases occurring in patients with mild acute illness. The consequence is
widespread global harm to people's health, wellbeing, and livelihoods—an
estimated one in ten people who develop long COVID stop working, resulting in
extensive economic losses. In 2021, we called for a coordinated research and
health-care agenda to tackle this new medical challenge. However, progress has
been excruciatingly slow due to lack of attention and resources.
Some progress has been made in our understanding of its multifaceted and
heterogeneous nature. In a Comment in
The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Iwasaki
and Putrino consider the possible causes, including viral persistence,
autoimmunity triggered by the infection, reactivation of latent viruses, and
inflammation-triggered chronic changes leading to organ damage, which might
explain the different phenotypes exhibited by long COVID patients. Several
candidate treatments are being tested, based on differing symptoms and
biological mechanisms. Because of long COVID's diverse symptomatology, reliance
on self-reported symptoms, and a lack of diagnostic tests and consensus
definition, many patients struggle to obtain a definitive diagnosis. As a
result, long COVID is often easily dismissed as a psychosomatic condition.
Given what we now know about the effects of long COVID and its biological
basis, it must be taken seriously."
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: March 16, 2023
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-80101231
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
