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LONDON (Reuters) – The ongoing illness after COVID-19 infection, sometimes called “prolonged COVID,” may not be one syndrome but up to four, causing a rollercoaster of symptoms affecting all parts of the world. body and mind, doctors said Thursday.
In an initial report on long-term COVID-19, Britain’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) said a common theme among ongoing COVID patients, some of whom have been in their disease for seven months or more. disease, is that the symptoms appear in a physiological area. , such as the heart or lungs, only to diminish and then arise again in a different area.
“This review highlights the damaging physical and psychological impact that ongoing COVID is having on the lives of many people,” said Dr. Elaine Maxwell, who led the report.
Many thousands of people around the world have connected on social media platforms and online forums to share their experiences on the ongoing symptoms of COVID-19. Some call themselves “long carriers”, while others have called their condition “long COVID.”
According to the UK-based LongCovidSOS patient group, data from a symptom tracking app designed by King’s College London shows that 10% of COVID-19 patients are not feeling well after three weeks , and up to 5% may remain ill for months.
Maxwell, who presented the findings of the “Living with COVID” report at an online press conference, said health services are already struggling “to manage these new and fluctuating patterns of symptoms and problems.”
She and her co-authors urged patients and physicians to record and track symptoms so health researchers can learn more about the condition and how to alleviate it as quickly as possible.
“Despite the uncertainties, people need help now,” he said. “We need to collect more data.”
For this initial report, Maxwell’s team held a focus group with 14 members of a Facebook group called Long COVID.
Their testimony suggested that ongoing COVID can be cyclical, Maxwell said, with symptoms that fluctuate in severity and move around the body, including the respiratory system, the brain, the cardiovascular system, and the heart, kidneys, intestines, liver. and the skin.
“There are powerful stories that ongoing COVID symptoms are experienced by people of all ages and people of all backgrounds,” the report said.
Maxwell said that an urgent priority is to establish a functional diagnosis recognized by health services, employers and government agencies to help patients obtain support.
“While this is a new disease and we are learning more about its impact … services will need to be better equipped to help people with ongoing COVID, as emerging evidence shows that there are significant psychological and social impacts they will have. long-term consequences, “the report said.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Mark Heinrich)
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