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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

What Is Long Covid?

I'm sure you've heard stories of people who've had Covid-19 but who continue to have symptoms. Unfortunately, we still know very little about Covid-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. While most people who suffer from Covid-19 experience symptoms for up to four weeks, there is increasing evidence that some people experience these symptoms much longer. Nature calls this post-acute Covid-19. We call it long Covid or long-haul Covid. These continuing symptoms are likely to include fatigue, difficulty breathing, chest pain, brain fog and joint pain.

You might be tempted to say these symptoms are psychosomatic. But Nature notes that survivors of other coronavirus infections have also suffered from persistent symptoms. 

Three studies have been conducted in the U.S., Europe and China. 

The US study was a telephone survey of 1,250 patients from 38 hospitals in Michigan. Nearly a third reported persistent symptoms 60 days after discharge. 

The most detailed study comes from Wuhan, which conducted an in-person evaluation of 1,733 patients at six months after discharge. Seventy-six per cent were demonstrating at least one symptom. The most common complaint was fatigue or overall weakness. 

You can read more about long covid in Medical News Today. 

Interestingly, some suffering from long covid report recovering fully after being vaccinated. 

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

It seems there is a lot we don't know about this virus. It would be much better for authorities to admit they don't know, rather than change their stories repeatedly. It may take several years to learn what the effects are. It is not uncommon for viral infections like the flu to take months to fully recover especially for older people. I had covid and after 3 months it seems my endurance has not fully recovered. Is it from the covid or just old age?

Anonymous said...

This link?
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/long-covid

Anonymous said...

No rhyme or reason. A friend went through it in four days with mild symptoms and is perfectly fine. Another friend was very ill for a week and still has fatigue, joint pain (especially his feet), and continuing loss of smell - over seven months later. Both are the same age. Guy with better outcome is very fit. Guy who is still struggling is significantly overweight, although his very fit wife had an even more severe case - but not the lingering problems.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I decline to publish comments referring to Covid-19 as the "Wuhan flu" bc too many Asian Americans are being assaulted .

"t seems there is a lot we don't know about this virus. It would be much better for authorities to admit they don't know, rather than change their stories repeatedly."

This has nothing to do with changing stories by "authorities."

"It is not uncommon for viral infections like the flu to take months to fully recover especially for older people."

Actually, that is very uncommon. It is quite rare to see someone suffer from the flu for nine months. SARS is NOT a flu virus. If you actually read the Nature article instead of immediately spouting off biased nonsense, you would learn this persistence has been noted in the other coronviruses.

Bernie O'Hare said...

7:56, Yes, TY. Fixed my link.

Anonymous said...

Once again - MAJOR applause and credit to the entire medical community for what they've learned and the advances they've made in 12 months time. Credit to the pharmaceutical companies and the Trump administration for the rapid development and deployment of a viable vaccine in that time as well. Credit to Biden administration for continuing the push. Credit to Bernie, main stream and large segments of social media for amplifying important AND factual information about what COVID is and isn't.

Think about where we would be if this virus hit 10 or 20 years ago...

Anonymous said...

It's precisely because there still are many COVID-related issues that have not yet been adequately studied that we should err on the side of caution. I will get my second dose in about 10 days, but I will continue with all current precautions until it's clear what relaxations, if any, are appropriate.

Those who call for the wholesale relaxation of precautions are irresponsible. There's no doubt that we should be sticking with masks and social distancing for the foreseeable future.

Anonymous said...

Once again Trump deserves no credit. If he would have acknowledged the virus early in 2020 then 500,000 Americans would still be alive.

Anonymous said...

Too bad you can't block an idiot by the name of Thomas Petrie who comments on WFMZ and is probably the most bigoted individual in the Lehigh Valley!

Anonymous said...

@12:02 - I give Trump the credit for at least acknowledging that typical development time and regulatory hurdles that would be cumbersome and delay delivery and getting government mostly out of the way - literally may have been his only success with COVID. After that, yeah, he pretty much zigged where he should have zagged at every turn, then as was his M.O. over 4 years on anything he did, double downed on his rhetoric about the virus which probably cost him reelection. Had he taken it seriously, led by example, humbly/modestly let others have the credit/spotlight I think he would have won easily in November.

Anonymous said...

Easy explanation. Long term sufferers are Trumpsters who cannot get over their involvement with the lying creep whose bluffing and lack of decisiveness during the onset of the pandemic led to massive loss of life.

Anonymous said...

Bernie, I think I read somewhere that after getting your shot you suffered from transformation. It is said the shot turn you into a nice guy. I am clearly not seeing a bottom feeding blogger like you ever suffer such a niceity. You will be back to your old self in a few days I hope.

Peterjcochran said...

I warned here days ago about complacency. We need to pay attention .

peterjcochran said...

I brought home a Veteran and his wife that were Covid ! From two separate hospitals. Both now on oxygen . We need to still be careful. The vaccine is mRNA , means it works over the viruses buy not you personally. Pay attention, I have posted here before about need to pay attention.

Bernie O'Hare said...

5:08, No worries. I am still as mean as cat shit.

Anonymous said...

I'm sincerely tired of people blaming one person for 500000 deaths. It is cruel, untrue and continues to further divide this country.

Anonymous said...

People forget that every individuals body chemistry and make up is unique different. Although most of us fit into the human race each one of us have our own specific uniqueness. And every interaction with others and more especially viruses are similarly unique. Those interactions are why in normal times it takes so long to develop a vaccine. Each unique case needs to be reviewed and resolved. IN the current situation groups and categories have been lumped to move through the process at warp speed. Warp speed however casts away the reality that everyone is unique. And the RNA overwrite process has never previously been tested in mass in humans. So although it works well in most what is going on internally and long term is still an unknown just like what is happening with the virus. In the short term many are ok and many have limited symptoms but the alternations and adjustments the virus makes on an individuals body and chemistry long term is still unknown. And because we have not been through this before many things that happen to you long term we do not even know to look for yet, Nor do we know how to identify those root cause changes early. Long term fatigue, Loss of smell and others are only symptoms of the underlying changes which really occurred. We have so much to learn and anyone that says they know all about the virus is only guessing right now.

Anonymous said...

@9:33 - Like a quarterback in football, the President gets a lot of credit and a lot of blame no matter what the rest of the team does or how they perform. Trump did not personally cause 500K COVID deaths, at least not directly. His administration got one thing right, and that was assessing the risks involved with leaving COVID unchecked for 2-3 years or expediting the development of vaccines and removing many of the bureaucratic hurdles that are usually in place. Because of that, we have multiple vaccines and slowly but surely getting them delivered to the public.

As 8:53 states - there are long term risks and consequences involved that we are not fully aware of at this point, and a primary reason why vaccines usually take years to develop to account for clinical trials and exhaustive testing. The alternative was to wait it out and watch the virus ebb and flow unchecked causing further societal and economic damage around the globe.

Where Trump hurt himself was not being disciplined enough to stay on message about the crisis and veering into lanes he was clearly unqualified for that undermined his own authority and advocacy for the best path forward. A simple statement, "America has the best medical and scientific minds in the world, my advisors say we should wear masks and limit our social interactions where and when ever possible for the foreseeable future and that's what we're going to do. This is a national crisis that will require sacrifices and effort from every man, woman, child, business and level of government and I will use every power that the office of the President of the United States has in its power, to work with Congress and our nations business leaders in order to see us through this."

He chose a different path.

Anonymous said...

@10:43
Where trump hurt himself was he stayed true to his colors about not giving a crap about anyone else other then himself.