[ad_1]
Covid-19 has left many patients with varied and debilitating symptoms months after the initial infection has cleared, raising fears about the long-term health costs of the pandemic.
Patients infected in the first wave of the virus have continued to suffer from disorders of the brain, lungs, heart, intestine, liver, skin and other parts of the body, according to a new review of the disease by the UK’s National Institute of Health. Investigation.
Some of the symptoms of Long Covid, as the condition is often known, can be very debilitating, such as “brain fog” and extreme exhaustion. Other consequences are milder, such as hair loss and the inability to taste or smell.
“A common theme is that symptoms arise in one physiological system and then subside, only for symptoms to arise in a different system,” the NIHR report said. The review aims to increase awareness of the condition among healthcare workers, while spurring further research, as very little is known today about the prevalence or causes of Long Covid.
Data from King’s College London’s Covid Symptom Study app, with 4 million regular contributors, suggests that up to 20% of infections cause complications lasting more than a month © Oli Scarff / AFP via Getty
A study in Italy found that 87 percent of people discharged from a Rome hospital still experienced at least one symptom two months after the onset of Covid-19. At least 55 percent had three or more symptoms including fatigue, breathing difficulties, and joint and chest pain.
Public Health England said last month that around 10 percent of “mild” Covid-19 cases that were not admitted to the hospital reported symptoms lasting more than four weeks. A separate study from King’s College London, using data from its Covid Symptom Study app with 4 million regular contributors, suggested that between 10% and 20% of infections led to complications lasting more than a month.
If around 10 per cent of people with confirmed Covid-19 will suffer from long-term Covid, that would mean more than 3.8 million people worldwide and more than 65,000 patients in the UK. But the NIHR researchers said it was too early to give a reliable estimate of prevalence.
“The overwhelming message is that this is not a linear condition,” said Elaine Maxwell, lead author of the NIHR report. “Many [patients] they suffer a roller coaster of symptoms that move through the body, from which they do not recover ”.
Latest news on coronavirus
Follow FT’s live coverage and analysis of the global pandemic and rapidly evolving economic crisis here.
There are some parallels between the current Covid-19 and the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, according to Philip Pearson, a respiratory physician at Northampton General Hospital and a member of the NIHR study group. “As we better understood HIV infection, we discovered all the different possible presentations of the disease.” he said. “Right now, as we try to define our terms, it looks like HIV research was then.”
Long Covid’s wide and fluctuating range of symptoms suggested it was the result of several overlapping but different syndromes, including postviral fatigue and permanent organ damage, according to the NIHR report.
“It feels like this coronavirus behaves very differently from other viral infections like the flu,” added Dr. Pearson.
Despite all the uncertainties, the NIHR authors called for a working definition of Long Covid to be agreed upon as soon as possible. “The absence of a definition may affect the ability of patients to have their symptoms and experiences recognized and appropriately treated by health services, which in turn may have an additional psychological impact, especially for non-hospitalized patients who never were formally diagnosed. “
In reaction to growing concerns about Long Covid, the UK’s NHS committed £ 10 million last week to establish a regional network of Long Covid clinics to assess the physical, cognitive and psychological condition of patients and, if appropriate, refer them. to specialized treatment.
