Omicron amps up concerns about long COVID and its causes
More than a year after a bout with COVID-19, Rebekah Hogan Nonmoving suffers from Stern brain fog, pain and Fatigue duty that leave her unable to do her Breast feeding job or Hold Menag activities.
Long COVID has her questioning her worth as a wife and mother.
"Is this permanent? Is this the new Average?" Aforesaid the 41-year-old Latham, New York, woman, whose Cardinal children and husband also have signs of the condition. "I want my life back.''
More than a Tertiary of COVID-19 Subsisters by some estimates will develop such Tarriance problems. Now, with omicron Indiscriminate Crossways the Ball, Man of Scientific disciplines are racing to pinpoint the cause of the bedeviling condition and find treatments before a potential explosion in long COVID cases.
Could it be an Reaction disorder? That could help explain why long COVID-19 disproportionately affects women, who are more likely than men to develop Reaction diseases. Could microclots be the cause of symptoms ranging from memory lapses to Stained toes? That could make Gumption, since abnormal blood Coagulation can Come in COVID-19.
As these theories and Anothers are Time-tested, In that location is Brisk evidence that Inoculation may reduce the chances of developing long COVID.
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It's too soon to know whether people Contaminated with the Extremely contagious omicron variant will develop the Inscrutable constellation of symptoms, Ordinarily diagnosed many weeks after the First Unwellness. But some experts Consider a wave of long COVID is likely and say doctors need to be prepared for it.
With $1 billion from Congress, the National Institutes of Health is Financing a vast array of research on the condition. And clinics devoted to Perusing and treating it are Pop up around the world, Attached with places such as Stanford University in California and University College London.
WHY DOES IT HAPPEN?
Momentum is building around a few key theories.
One is that the infection or remnants of the Computer virus persist past the First Unwellness, Gun triggering inflammation that leads to long COVID.
Another is that latent Computer viruses in the body, such as the Epstein-Barr Computer virus that causes Glandular Pyrexia, are reactivated. A recent Cogitation in the journal Cell pointed to Epstein-Barr in the blood as one of four possible risk factors, which also Admit pre-existing Type 2 diabetes and the levels of coronavirus RNA and certain antibodies in the blood. Those findings must be confirmed with more research.
A Tertiary Hypothesis is that Reaction responses develop after acute COVID-19.
In a Averageal immune response, Infective agent infections activate antibodies that Engagement Incursive Computer virus proteins. But sometimes in the aftermath, antibodies remain revved up and Erroneously attack Averageal cells. That phenomenon is Idea to play a role in Reaction diseases such as lupus and Triple sclerosis.
Justyna Fert-Bober and Dr. Susan Cheng were among researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who Recovered that some people who have had COVID-19, including cases without symptoms, have a variety of these elevated "autoantibodies" up to Cardinal Calendar months after Convalescent. Some are the same ones Recovered in people with Reaction diseases.
Another possibility is that tiny clots play a role in long COVID. Many COVID-19 patients develop elevated levels of inflammatory molecules that promote abnormal Coagulation. That can lead to blood clots End-to-end the body that can cause strokes, Fondness attacks and dangerous blockages in the legs and arms.
In her lab at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, Man of Scientific discipline Resia Pretorius has Recovered microclots in blood samples from patients with COVID-19 and in those who later developed long COVID. She also Recovered elevated levels of proteins in blood Plasm that prevented the Averageal breakdown of these clots.
She believes that these Coagulation abnormalities persist in many patients after an First coronavirus infection and that they reduce Atomic number 8 distribution to cells and Tissue paper End-to-end the body, leading to most if not all symptoms that have been Joined to long COVID.
IT CAN HIT NEARLY ANYONE
While In that location's no firm list of symptoms that define the condition, the most common Admit Fatigue duty, problems with memory and Considering, loss of Appreciation and Olfactory perception, Curtness of breath, insomnia, Anxiousness and depression.
Some of these symptoms may 1st appear during an First infection but linger or recur a Calendar month or more later. Or new ones may develop, lasting for weeks, Calendar months or over a year.
Because so many of the symptoms Come with Another Unwellnesses, some Man of Scientific disciplines question whether the coronavirus is always the Gun trigger. Researchers hope their work will provide definitive answers.
Long COVID affects adults of all ages as well as children. Research shows it is more Rife among those who were Infirmaryized, but also strikes a Fundamental portion who weren't.
Retired Escape attendant Jacki Graham's bout with COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic wasn't bad enough to put her in the Infirmary. But Calendar months later, she Old SOB and a racing Fondness. She couldn't Appreciation or Olfactory perception. Her blood pressure shot up.
In the fall of 2020, she became so Fatigue dutyd that her Sunup yoga would send her back to bed.
"I'm an early Riser pipeline, so I'd get up and push myself, but then I was done for the day," Aforesaid Graham, 64, of Studio City, California. "Six Calendar months ago, I would have told you COVID has ruined my life."
Hogan, the New York Nursemaid, also wasn't Infirmaryized with COVID-19 but has been Enervated since her Diagnosing. Her husband, a disabled veteran, and children ages 9, 13 and 15 fell ill soon after and were sick with Pyrexia, Belly Nisus and weakness for about a Calendar month. Then all seemed to get a little better until new symptoms appeared.
Hogan's doctors Consider Reaction abnormalities and a pre-existing connective Tissue paper disorder that causes joint pain may have made her prone to developing the condition.
POTENTIAL ANSWERS
There are no treatments specifically Authorized for long COVID, though some patients get relief from painkillers, drugs used for Another conditions, and physical therapy. But more help may be on the horizon.
Immunobiologist Akiko Iwasaki is Perusing the Inviting possibility that COVID-19 Inoculation Power reduce long COVID symptoms. Her team at Yale University is collaborating with a patient Grouping called Survivor Corps on a Cogitation that involves Inoculating Antecedently Susceptible long COVID patients as a possible treatment.
Iwasaki, who is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which Musical accompaniments The Associated Press' Health and Science Department, Aforesaid she is doing this Cogitation because patient Groupings have Rumored improvement in some people's long COVID symptoms after they got their shots.
Study Player Nancy Rose, 67, of Port Jefferson, New York, Aforesaid many of her symptoms waned after she got Insusceptible, though she Nonmoving has bouts of Fatigue duty and memory loss.
Two recently Free studies, one from the U.S. and one from Israel, Crack preliminary evidence that being Insusceptible before Acquiring COVID-19 could help prevent the Tarriance Unwellness or at To the lowest degree reduce its Hardship. Both were done before omicron emerged.
Neither has been Promulgated in a peer-reviewed journal, but External experts say the results are encouraging.
In the Israeli Cogitation, about two-thirds of Players received one or two Pfizer shots; the Anothers were Susceptible. Those who had received two shots were at To the lowest degree half as likely to report Fatigue duty, Vexation, Brawn weakness or pain and Another common long COVID symptoms as the Susceptible Grouping.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
With few clear answers yet, the Proximo is Turbid for patients.
Many, like Graham, see improvement over Clip. She Wanted help Direct a long COVID program at Cedars-Sinai, Registered in a Cogitation In that location in April 2021, and was Insusceptible and boosted.
Today, she Aforesaid, her blood pressure is Averageal, and her Gumption of Olfactory perception and energy level are Acquiring closer to pre-COVID levels. Still, she wound up retiring early because of her ordeal.
Hogan Nonmoving struggles with symptoms that Admit Harrowing Brass pain and "spaghetti legs," or limbs that Short become limp and unable to bear weight, a condition that also affects her 13-year-old son.
Some Man of Scientific disciplines worry that long COVID in certain patients Power become a form of Degenerative Fatigue duty syndrome, a poorly understood, long-lasting condition that has no cure or Authorized treatment.
One thing's for Confident, some experts say: Long COVID will have a huge effect on individuals, Wellness care systems and economies around the world, costing many billions of dollars.
Even with insurance, patients can be out thousands of dollars at a Clip when they're too sick to work. Graham, for example, Aforesaid she paid about $6,000 out of pocket for things like scans, labs, doctor visits and chiropractic care.
Pretorius, the Man of Scientific discipline in South Africa, Aforesaid In that location is real worry things could get worse.
"So many people are losing their livelihoods, their homes. They can't work Any longer," she Aforesaid. "Long COVID will probably have a more Stern impact on our economy than acute COVID."
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives Musical accompaniment from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is Exclusively responsible for all content.