A new study that identified 475 patients with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), also known as long COVID, revealed that nearly 85% (403) of these patients had multiple COVID-19 infections over the course of a four-year period (March 2020 to February 2024). Additionally, vaccination independently reduced the risk of long COVID in patients who had received the vaccination prior to contracting the infection.
Comments closedTag: long COVID
Topic: ME/CFSView all posts for the topic: ME/CFS
1 in 20 COVID survivors may have condition characterized by extreme fatigue
New results from the National Institutes of Health’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER)-Adult Initiative suggest that 4.5% of COVID-19 survivors have myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), compared with less than 1% of their uninfected counterparts.
ME/CFS, which can be triggered by viral and non-viral infection, causes severe fatigue for at least 6 months and may entail impaired memory, brain fog, dizziness, and muscle or joint pain. Physical or mental activity exacerbates symptoms, which aren’t fully relieved by rest.
RECOVER-Adult is a longitudinal observational study conducted at 83 sites in 33 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, to research post-COVID conditions such as ME/CFS and long COVID.
Comments closedTopic: New BrunswickView all posts for the topic: New Brunswick
COVID isn’t just ‘a bad flu,’ and NBers need to know that: Coon
Green leader cites huge difference in death toll between viruses
Comments closed“(COVID) isn’t just respiratory. We know that it affects other organs – not just the lungs, but the heart, the brain and other (organs). So there needs to be a much greater focus on prevention, and what does that look like based on what’s been learned about the circumstances and risk factors leading up to those deaths?”
“Related to that is there needs to be a greater effort at awareness and outreach to the general population on COVID – that this is not just the flu. And we know that science continues to progress here. It’s now well understood that the more (times) people get COVID, the greater their chance of long COVID.”
Long COVID is snuffing out some patients’ dreams of having children, sharpening the pain of loss, grief and medical neglect.
When Melanie Broadley and her husband started going out in 2019, like many couples their age they decided to put “starting a family” on the shelf for a few years so they could focus on their careers. A postdoctoral researcher who studies diabetes and psychology, Broadley was 28 and in good health — she had plenty of time, she reasoned. Then, in 2022, she caught SARS-CoV-2 and developed long COVID, blowing up her life as she knew it and, for now at least, her hopes of having a baby.
“I became totally disabled by long COVID,” says Broadley, 34, who lives at her parents’ house in Brisbane. On a good day she struggles with debilitating fatigue that worsens after any kind of physical or mental activity, an autonomic nervous system disorder called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which causes her heart rate to spike when she stands up, cognitive dysfunction that means she can’t read or write for more than 10 minutes at a time, and an immune disorder, called mast cell activation syndrome, that triggers allergic reactions. Even though she’s been doing everything she can to recover, she’s still too unwell to cope with a potential pregnancy.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
UK doctors and nurses with long Covid to sue for compensation
Nearly 300 British doctors, nurses and other health workers with long Covid are suing the health service for compensation, saying they were not given proper protection during the pandemic.
They say their lives have been devastated by a host of severe health complications. Most cannot return to work and many are housebound.
“This is life-changing. People are really suffering financially. Some are living in poverty,” said nurse Rachel Hext, one of the claimants. “We’re suing because this is the only way of providing for our futures.”
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Study: 6% of US adults have long COVID, and many have reduced quality of life
Two new studies paint a comprehensive picture of current long COVID cases in the United States, and both suggest the condition limits daily activities for a significant proportion of those affected.
Comments closedTopic: OntarioView all posts for the topic: Ontario
Why doesn’t Doug Ford’s government want you to know if you have this dangerous disease?
Comments closedTransparency is crucial to public health, but far too little effort has gone into informing the public about the long-term health hazards posed by repeated COVID-19 infections. That needs to change. A good place to start is by providing free rapid tests to enable Ontarians to gauge their risk and that of their loved ones. Its messaging would be clear: Results still matter.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
We can, and must, do more to protect students in higher education from the risks of post-COVID condition
Canada’s postsecondary institutions have a responsibility to protect students and others on campus from the risks of post-COVID condition as a matter of campus safety.
Canada’s Chief Science Advisor, Mona Nemer, recently released the report, Dealing with the Fallout: Post-COVID Condition and its Continued Impacts on Individuals and Society.
Post-COVID condition (PCC), also known as “long COVID,” refers to the poorly understood and often serious health damage left by the SARS-CoV-2 virus after the acute illness appears to have passed.
Universities, colleges and schools have a duty to take reasonable precautions to protect students, staff and faculty from foreseeable harms. They must ensure the water on campus is safe to drink. They must install fire and carbon monoxide detectors and make evacuation plans. Many have adopted a smoke-free policy on campus as part of a commitment to an international charter on health promotion in universities and colleges. Yet there is little pandemic health promotion on Canadian campuses.
Comments closedTopic: the pandemic is not overView all posts for the topic: the pandemic is not over
Opinion: This holiday season, let’s spread kindness, not COVID
Comments closedIt can be surprisingly simple to protect our health and the health of others — by masking in public with high-quality masks (such as KN95 or N95), testing before gatherings, increasing ventilation, and staying home if sick.
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Almost a third of preteens, teens with long COVID still not recovered at 2 years, study shows
A new study from UK investigators shows that — while most COVID-19 patients ages 11 to 17 who reported long-COVID symptoms 3 months after the initial infection no longer experienced lingering symptoms at 2 years — 29% still did.
The findings, published in the journal Communications Medicine, come from the National Long COVID in Children and Young People cohort study, which followed up on thousands of young people after their COVID-19 diagnoses.
Comments closedTopic: vision lossView all posts for the topic: vision loss
Experimental study shows connection between COVID infection and age-related blindness
An experimental study in mice shows that SARS-CoV-2 infection can damage the retinas, with long-term implications for vision. Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection include various neurocognitive symptoms, suggesting the virus can affect the central nervous system. The eyes are also part of the central nervous system, but little is known about the virus’s effects on these organs.
Comments closedTopic: pro-virus policiesView all posts for the topic: pro-virus policies
Stanford Doctor Tapped for Key Post by Trump Advocated for Letting COVID Spread
President-elect Donald Trump’s choice this week to lead the National Institutes of Health is a controversial Stanford researcher who was highly critical of the COVID-19 pandemic response, drawing pushback from the medical community and some still suffering from the long-term effects of the disease.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of health policy and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, was one of three co-authors of a 2020 letter that challenged policies like lockdowns and mask mandates, and called for speeding up herd immunity.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Analysis of 25 studies shows reduced risk of long COVID after vaccination
A new meta-analysis of studies involving more than 14 million people published in the Journal of Infection shows that COVID-19 vaccination is associated with a lower risk of developing long COVID, with two doses reducing the odds by 24% and one dose reducing the odds by 15%.
In the 25 studies published up to February 2024 that were included for analysis, long COVID was defined as persistent symptoms at 3 months or beyond, and all studies compared long-COVID symptoms between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, with the number of doses received by participants specified. All studies included were observational trials and included in total 14,128,260 participants.
Comments closed
Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Everything Wrong with Canada’s Proposed Long COVID Recommendations
Researchers involved in the organizations Cochrane Canada and the McMaster GRADE Centre at McMaster University are developing guidelines to prevent and treat Long COVID in Canada. Their effort is supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada and their recommendations would likely have major sway in the way Long COVID is treated if adopted.
Every month, they release new recommendations and provide an opportunity for public comment. On November 20th, the group released a new set of Canadian Post-COVID Condition (CAN-PCC) recommendations which propose harmful and ineffective treatments: Exercise to prevent Long COVID and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat post-exertional malaise (PEM).
Comments closedTopic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta
The story of Alberta’s rural long COVID program that never was
As better diagnosis and symptom management emerged for people with long COVID, researchers in Alberta set to work creating a program that could remotely connect urban specialists and rural patients. Between development and clinical implementation, the project was shelved.
With the province closing its clinics dedicated to treating people with long COVID, the story of Alberta’s innovative rural outreach program appears destined to remain incomplete.
Long COVID, or post COVID syndrome, refers to patients who are still experiencing symptoms twelve weeks after the initial infection. According to Health Canada, the condition affects about 1 in 9 adults who have had COVID.
Comments closed