Three years after the WHO declared the pandemic, this report plunges into the heart of the upset daily life of a Montreal family affected by…
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Study of 1 million US kids shows vaccines tied to lower risk of long COVID
A study of 1,037,936 US children seen in 17 healthcare systems across the country shows that COVID-19 vaccines are moderately protective against long COVID: 35% to 45%, with higher rates in adolescents. The study was published today in Pediatrics.
The researchers estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against long COVID in children aged 5 to 17 years. Though severe COVID-19 cases are less common in children than in adults, persistent symptoms in children do occur.
“It is difficult to establish how much this results from differential reporting of symptoms at different ages, greater difficulty distinguishing long COVID from other childhood illnesses or effects of the pandemic (eg, disruption of seasonal viral patterns, or of school progress,” the authors wrote.
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Body’s response to COVID differs in men, women, researchers report
COVID-19 affects men and women differently, with men having greater increases in skin temperature, breathing rate, and heart rate, concludes a study published yesterday in PLOS One.
Researchers in Liechtenstein led the analysis of breathing rate, heart rate, heart rate variability, and wrist skin temperature in 1,163 men and women who wore the Ava medical tracking bracelet while sleeping from April 2020 to January 2022.
Comments closedTopic: cognitive declineView all posts for the topic: cognitive decline
Des déclins cognitifs constatés après une infection à la COVID-19
Scientific evidence about the long-term effects of COVID-19 continues to accumulate. Two new studies involving hundreds of thousands of people suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infections can cause cognitive decline.
Researchers at Imperial College, London recruited nearly 113,000 Britons previously infected with the COVID-19 virus for their study. These individuals engaged in various cognitive exercises to assess their memory and their faculties of concentration and attention. Their results were compared to those of people never infected.
The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that the coronavirus is believed to impair cognitive abilities and the intelligence quotient (IQ).
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Even healthcare workers face difficulty accessing long-COVID care, review suggests
Healthcare workers (HCWs) with long-COVID symptoms reported that their physicians shrugged off their concerns and that they struggled to get the care they needed, a new systematic review suggests.
For the rapid review, published yesterday in PLOS One, researchers from the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University in Scotland reviewed 30 studies published from December 2019 to December 2022 to evaluate the effects of long COVID on HCW health, working life, personal circumstances, and use of healthcare resources. Two of the studies provided qualitative evidence, and 28 survey studies offered quantitative evidence.
Comments closedTopic: autoimmune diseasesView all posts for the topic: autoimmune diseases
COVID tied to higher risk of inflammatory autoimmune diseases for 1 year
COVID-19 may increase the risk of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) for up to 1 year after infection, according to a two-country study published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The study, led by researchers from the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard and from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea, analyzed national claims databases from more than 10 million Korean and 12 million Japanese patients aged 20 years and older diagnosed as having COVID-19 from January 2020 to December 2021.
The study period was dominated by the wild-type virus and then the Delta variant. The COVID-19 patients were compared with matched flu patients from the same period and uninfected controls.
Comments closedTopic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines
Researchers investigate a man who received 217 Covid vaccinations
Researchers at FAU find no negative effects on immune system
Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen have examined a man who has received more than 200 vaccinations against Covid-19. They learned of his case via newspaper reports. Until now, it has been unclear what affects hypervaccination such as this would have on the immune system. Some scientists were of the opinion that immune cells would become less effective after becoming used to the antigens. This proved not to be the case in the individual in question: his immune system is fully functional. Certain immune cells and antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 are even present in considerably higher concentrations than is the case with people who have only received three vaccinations. The results have been published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
More than 60 million people in Germany have been vaccinated against SARS-Coronavirus 2, the majority of them several times. The man who has now been examined by researchers at FAU claims to have received 217 vaccinations for private reasons. There is official confirmation for 134 of these vaccinations.
“We learned about his case via newspaper articles,” explains Privatdozent Dr. Kilian Schober from the Institute of Microbiology – Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene (director Prof. Dr. Christian Bogdan). “We then contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests in Erlangen. He was very interested in doing so.” Schober and his colleagues wanted to know what consequences hypervaccination such as this would have. How does it alter the immune response?
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Topic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Low iron levels resulting from infection could be key trigger of long COVID
Problems with iron levels in the blood and the body’s ability to regulate this important nutrient as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection could be a key trigger for long COVID, new research has discovered.
The discovery not only points to possible ways to prevent or treat the condition, but could help explain why symptoms similar to those of long COVID are also commonly seen in a number of post-viral conditions and chronic inflammation.
Although estimates are highly variable, as many as three in 10 people infected with SARS-CoV-2 could go on to develop long COVID, with symptoms including fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle aches and problems with memory and concentration (‘brain fog’). An estimated 1.9 million people in the UK alone were experiencing self-reported long COVID as of March 2023, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Comments closedTopic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines
The mRNA miracle workers
At the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, Drew Weissman and Katalin Karikó (known as Kati) met by chance at a copy machine in 1998. And though he was admittedly a quiet guy who stuck to himself, they started talking. “We both used to copy a lot of articles to read,” he said.
He was an immunologist studying cells that adapt to mount immune responses against diseases; she was a biochemist working with messenger RNA (known as mRNA), the molecule that teaches cells how to make proteins. “We learned from each other,” said Karikó.
“I joke it’s like the Reese’s commercial where the chocolate and the peanut butter come together and make a new treat,” Weissman said.
And what makes a good scientific team? “Respect each other, listen to each other,” Karikó said. “We didn’t try to overpower each other.”
Comments closedTopic: cognitive issuesView all posts for the topic: cognitive issues
Long covid may cause cognitive decline of about six IQ points, study finds
It’s more than four years since the first cases of covid-19 were identified — but many of its longer-term effects, including for those living with long covid, remain unclear.
Now, a new study has some worrying findings that suggest covid may have longer-term effects on cognition and memory — and that these lead to measurable differences in cognitive performance.
The study, published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that participants who recovered from covid symptoms had a cognitive deficit equivalent to three IQ points compared with those who were never infected, while participants suffering from unresolved covid symptoms lasting 12 weeks or more experienced a loss equivalent to six IQ points.
Comments closedTopic: cognitive issuesView all posts for the topic: cognitive issues
Mounting research shows that COVID-19 leaves its mark on the brain, including with significant drops in IQ scores
From the very early days of the pandemic, brain fog emerged as a significant health condition that many experience after COVID-19.
Brain fog is a colloquial term that describes a state of mental sluggishness or lack of clarity and haziness that makes it difficult to concentrate, remember things and think clearly.
Fast-forward four years and there is now abundant evidence that being infected with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – can affect brain health in many ways.
In addition to brain fog, COVID-19 can lead to an array of problems, including headaches, seizure disorders, strokes, sleep problems, and tingling and paralysis of the nerves, as well as several mental health disorders.
A large and growing body of evidence amassed throughout the pandemic details the many ways that COVID-19 leaves an indelible mark on the brain. But the specific pathways by which the virus does so are still being elucidated, and curative treatments are nonexistent.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Solving the puzzle of Long Covid
Comments closedPreventing infections and reinfections is the best way to prevent Long Covid and should remain the foundation of public health policy. A greater commitment to nonpharmaceutical interventions, which include masking, especially in high-risk settings, and improved air quality through filtration and ventilation, are requisite. Updating building codes to require mitigation against airborne pathogens and ensure safer indoor air should be treated with the same seriousness afforded to mitigation of risks from earthquakes and other natural hazards. Reducing the risk of serious outcomes after COVID-19 and some prevention of Long Covid can be attained with vaccination of a wider spectrum of the population.
Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines
Fall COVID-19 vaccine cut illness risk by half overall
The fall COVID-19 vaccine cut the risk of COVID-19 illness by about half overall, and by 67 per cent for those with a previous infection, according to new research from the Canadian network that has long tracked the performance of the annual flu shot.
This is the first time the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network, which is comprised of hundreds of primary care providers in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, produced mid-season estimates of the effectiveness of immunization against COVID-19.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Irish scientists discover why people with long Covid can suffer ‘brain fog’
The reason why people with long Covid can suffer from “brain fog” has been discovered by Irish scientists.
The breakthrough has profound importance for the understanding of brain fog and cognitive decline seen in some patients with the condition, according researchers at Trinity College Dublin.
It brings the possibility of new treatments for the condition, but also for other neurodegenerative illnesses such as multiple sclerosis (MS), they said.
The research, published in Nature Neuroscience on Thursday, shows disruption to the integrity of blood vessels in the brains of patients suffering from long Covid and brain fog.
Comments closedTopic: long COVIDView all posts for the topic: long COVID
Long Covid ‘brain fog’ may be due to leaky blood-brain barrier, study finds
From forgetfulness to difficulties concentrating, many people who have long Covid experience “brain fog”. Now researchers say the symptom could be down to the blood-brain barrier becoming leaky.
The barrier controls which substances or materials enter and exit the brain. “It’s all about regulating a balance of material in blood compared to brain,” said Prof Matthew Campbell, co-author of the research at Trinity College Dublin.
“If that is off balance then it can drive changes in neural function and if this happens in brain regions that allow for memory consolidation/storage then it can wreak havoc.”
Writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Campbell and colleagues report how they analysed serum and plasma samples from 76 patients who were hospitalised with Covid in March or April 2020, as well 25 people before the pandemic.
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