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Compiled by Zakiyah Ebrahim
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Health24
04 Nov 2020, 04:46
- Researchers have identified a group of symptoms that persist in Covid-19 patients.
- This is because the immune system of patients still interacts with the disease, even 10 weeks later.
- Some of these include flu-like symptoms, lung problems, and joint and muscle pain.
Seven “disease forms,” or groups of symptoms, have been found in patients with mild Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, leaving them with significant changes in their immune system (even after 10 weeks), a new study from the Vienna University of Medicine.
The study, published in the journal Allergy, involved 109 convalescents (patients recovering from Covid-19) and 98 healthy individuals in the control group.
“Several studies have investigated cellular immune responses in Covid-19 patients during illness, but little is known about a possible long-term impact of Covid-19 on the adaptive and innate immune system in convalescent Covid-19 patients,” wrote the authors.
The seven groups of symptoms
Several Covid-19-related symptoms occurred in groups of symptoms, the researchers found. The seven groups of symptoms identified included the following:
- Flu-like symptoms (with fever, chills, fatigue, and cough)
- Common cold-like symptoms (with rhinitis, sneezing, dry throat and nasal congestion)
- Joint and muscle pain
- Inflammation of the eyes and mucous membranes
- Lung problems (with pneumonia and shortness of breath)
- Gastrointestinal problems (including diarrhea, nausea, and headache).
- Loss of sense of smell and taste and other symptoms.
“In the latter group, we found that loss of smell and taste predominantly affects people with a ‘young immune system,’ as measured by the number of immune cells (T lymphocytes) that have recently migrated from the thymus gland,” he said. lead author and immunologist Winfried Pickl, from MedUni Vienna’s Center for Pathophysiology, Infectology and Immunology, explained in a statement.
“This means that we were able to clearly distinguish the systemic forms (eg, groups 1 and 3) from the organ-specific forms (eg, groups 6 and 7) of primary Covid-19 disease,” Pickl said.
‘The immune system remains compromised with disease weeks later’
The team’s additional findings include that Covid-19 leaves long-lasting detectable changes in convalescents’ blood, which they describe as similar to a fingerprint.
To explain this, they commented that the number of granulocytes (a type of white blood cell that is responsible in the immune system for fighting bacterial pathogens) was found to be significantly lower than normal in the Covid-19 group.
“However, both the CD4 and CD8 T cell compartments developed memory cells, and the CD8 T cells remained strongly activated,” Pickl said.
“This indicates that the immune system is still intensely compromised with disease several weeks after the initial infection. At the same time, regulatory cells are severely depleted, and that is probably a dangerous combination that could lead to autoimmunity,” he added.
The latest findings may lead to a better understanding of Covid-19
The team also detected elevated levels of antibody-producing immune cells in convalescent blood. They found that the higher the fever of the affected patient during the mild course of the disease, the higher the levels of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
“Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the disease and assist us in the development of potential vaccines, as we now have access to promising biomarkers and can track even better,” the team said.
“Above all, the study shows that the human immune system ‘doubles’ when defending against Covid-19 with the combined action of immune cells and antibodies … and that cells are also capable of memorizing certain ‘movements’ by of the virus … and respond to them. “
The researchers believe their findings could be used for the development of highly effective Covid-19 vaccines.
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Image: Getty / Visual Generation
