There was no reason to celebrate Rachel Van Lear’s birthday. The same day a global epidemic broke out, she developed symptoms of COVID-19. A year later, she is still waiting to disappear. And come up with some answers for the experts.
The Texas woman is one of thousands of self-described long-haul lurches that prolong or develop in the blue months after patients first become infected with the coronavirus. She first arrived on March 11, 2020.
The condition affects the number of survivors in a variety of surprises.
“We are facing a mystery,” said Dr. Krishna Kumar, head of the National Institutes of Health. Said Francis Collins.
Is it a specific condition for Covid-19, or just a variation of the syndrome that can occur after another infection? How many people are affected, and how long does it last? Is it a new form of chronic fatigue syndrome – a condition with similar symptoms?
Or some of the symptoms may not be related to their Covid-19 but the physical reaction to the upheaval of this past epidemic year – not to mention lockdown, quarantine, loneliness, job loss, ethnic unrest, political unrest, overwhelming illness and death?
Scientists have these questions against scientists when they search for markers, cures and cures. With billion 1 billion in Congress, Collins’ agency is designing and requesting a study that targets at least 20,000 people who have Covid-19 should comply.
“We didn’t really encounter any contagious conditions after this severity so this is unprecedented,” Collins said Monday. “We don’t have time to waste.”
COVID-19 and 119 million U.S. worldwide. The impact of about 30 million cases can be surprising, even if small parts of patients develop long-term problems.
Fatigue, shortness of breath, insomnia, difficulty thinking clearly and depression are some of the symptoms reported. Damage to organs, including lung scarring and heart inflammation, has also been found. Determining whether this symptom is directly related to the virus or whether some exist is in the works of scientists.
” Is it just a very delayed recovery or is it something more worrying and something that becomes new normal? ” Collins said.
There are a few working principles for this that can have persistent symptoms. One is that the virus remains at an undiagnosed level in the body, but even then it can damage tissues or organs. Or it boosts the immune system, preventing it from returning to normal. The third principle: when the virus attacks the blood vessels, the symptoms lengthen or recur, causing minute, undiagnosed blood clots that can wreak havoc throughout the body.
Some scientists believe that this can happen in different people.
An infectious disease specialist from the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Steven Dix said researchers first need to create a widely accepted definition of the syndrome. Estimates are “on the whole map because no one defines them that way,” he said.
Dix is leading a study, collecting blood and saliva samples from volunteers, which will be followed for two years.
Some people develop long-term problems even when their initial infections were quiet. Dix said some evidence suggests that people who initially get coronavirus infection are more likely to have persistent symptoms, and that women seem to develop them more than men, but those observations need to be confirmed, Dix said.
Van Lear says she was in very good condition when she fell ill. At age 35, suburban Aust Stein woman had no other health problems and was a busy mother of three who often worked. First there was a cold in the chest, then a high fever. The flu test came back negative, so her doctor tested for COVID-19. Immediately after the headache subsided, fatigue and ause became so severe that he needed treatment in the emergency room.
“I was scared because no one could tell me what was going to happen to me. ”
Over the next few months, symptoms will come and go: burning lungs, rapid heartbeat, dizziness, hand tremors, and hair loss. While most have disappeared, he still occasionally deals with racing beats. Heart monitoring, blood work and other tests have all been normal.
Carla Jefferies’ first symptoms were fatigue, fever and no taste or smell after testing positive last March. Then came the fog of the brain, the insomnia, the smell of something burning that had only recently disappeared and was ringing intermittently in his ears. Now he can’t hear from his left ear.
Doctors can’t find anything to explain it, and when some doctors deny her symptoms, she’s scattered.
Jefferies, 64, a 64-year-old retired state worker in Detroit, said, “I understand that covid is something we’re all going through together but don’t brush me off. ‘
As an African American woman suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, she was at high risk for a bad outcome and she knows she is lucky that her early illness was not more serious. But because of her persistent symptoms and house arrest she came down and the frustration subsided.
The political and ethnic unrest that dominated the news did not help, and church services – often her emancipation – were suspended. She knows that anything can contribute to her poor health and she says that listening to music – R&B, jazz and a little country – helps her cope.
Still, Jefferies wants to know what role the virus has played.
Jefferies said, ‘I’m one year old, and from time to time there are still delayed effects, I don’t understand that.’ ‘
Jefferies and Van Lear are members of the Survivor Corps, one of the many support online support groups formed during the epidemic that have gathered thousands of members. Some are enrolling in the study to accelerate science.
Dr. Michael Schneler is leading a study at NIH. So far, 200 have registered; This includes survivors and a healthy comparison group.
They are given physical and mental tests once or twice a year for three years. Other tests are looking for signs of ongoing inflammation, abnormal antibodies, and blood vessel damage.
Snyler said he has so far suffered no serious heart or lung tissue damage. He noted that many viruses can cause mild heartburn, some even cold viruses. Many people recover but in severe cases this condition leads to heart failure.
Fatigue is the most common symptom of the coronavirus group and so far researchers have found no medical explanation for it. Insomnia is common, too – in both groups. Snyler says that’s not surprising.
“The whole epidemic and the lockdown affected us all,” he said. There is also a lot of concern in the control group. ”
Many have symptoms such as chronic disease syndrome; And a condition associated with fatigue and difficulty thinking, which can develop after treatment of Lyme disease, a bacterial infection transmitted by certain ticks.
Researchers hope the long-term study of COVID-19 will also provide answers to what causes these conditions.
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The Associated Press The Department of Health and Science is supported by the Department of Science Education at Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AP is fully responsible for all content.
