Many people who have long COVID—a condition in which health issues persist months after infection—report struggling with “brain fog,” recurring memory and concentration lapses that make it difficult to function in everyday life. Now a new study has found these cognitive problems could result from blood clots triggered by infection, possibly through mechanisms like those that cause some types of dementia. These clots leave telltale protein signatures in blood, suggesting that testing for them could help predict, diagnose and possibly even treat long COVID.
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Μακρά Covid-19: Οι θρόμβοι αίματος μπορεί να ευθύνονται για την εγκεφαλική ομίχλη
Blood clots in the brain or lungs may be responsible for certain symptoms of long COVID, including brain fog and fatigue, according to a new British study.
Comments closedCOVID infection risk rises the longer you are exposed — even for vaccinated people
Prolonged exposure in close proximity to someone with COVID-19 puts people at high risk of catching the disease, even if they’ve had both the disease and vaccinations against it, a study shows.
Comments closedLong COVID is debilitating children. Doctors worry there aren’t enough centers to treat them
Last month, the National Institutes of Health updated its considerations for long COVID to say the burden of the condition in children “may be quite large.” Studies estimating its prevalence in pediatric populations are limited and conflicting, estimating up to 25% of children infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus could go on to develop long COVID, though it’s more likely between 2% and 10%. Older children with existing chronic diseases or who had a more severe COVID-19 infection have an increased risk.
Comments closedExistential crisis: how long COVID patients helped us understand what it’s like to lose your sense of identity and purpose in life
Comments closedThis isn’t who I am – I don’t recognise myself. I panic if I get on the Tube and there’s no seat. It’s a very strange feeling, like not being in your own body. My fear is I’ll never really get better, and that I’m always going to be at 70% of my former self.
Opinion: Study shows ‘long COVID’ likely to cause mass misery if treatments can’t be developed
Given that 103 million Americans and 770 million people worldwide have been diagnosed as having contracted COVID-19, a future of misery could await a stunningly large cross-section of humanity.
Comments closedStudy: Oximeters often overestimate COVID patients’ oxygen levels, delaying care
“These results suggest that although racial and ethnic disparities exist in measurement of oxygen saturation by pulse oximetry, overestimation may increase the risk of hospital readmission regardless of patient race.”
Comments closedWhat Canada’s newest COVID data shows us about the toll of Omicron
The latest snapshot of Canada’s battle against the pandemic captures the toll the Omicron variant has taken on the elderly.
The highly infectious variant drove up hospitalizations across Canada, especially in those age 65 and older, according to data released Wednesday from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Comments closedHalifax researcher seeks COVID-19 long haulers to study effects of virus on brain
Dr. Carlos Hernandez is an assistant professor in Dalhousie University’s faculty of computer science. He hopes to contribute to long COVID research in collaboration with scientists at Western University in London, Ont., and the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City in a multi-year study assessing cognitive damage caused by the condition.
But there’s just one issue: He needs more participants in the Halifax area.
Comments closedCOVID-19 hospitalizations jump nearly 20% year-over-year, ICU and ER visits down, data show
Across the country, hospital emergency departments and intensive care units have seen a decline in COVID-19 patients compared with a year ago, but the number of people admitted to hospital because of the virus has increased nearly 20 per cent, according to new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Comments closedSARS-CoV-2 can cause lasting damage to cells’ energy production
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus responsible for the disease, SARS-CoV-2, was feared for its devastating damage to the lungs. But it quickly became apparent that the virus can infect organs and tissues throughout the body, including the heart, brain, kidneys, and blood vessels.
Much of the resulting dysfunction was thought to be the result of inflammation, the immune system’s response to infection. But research has suggested that effects on mitochondria may also play a role in organ damage from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells, producing most of the energy they need.
Comments closedLong COVID still worrisome 2 years after infection
Comments closedOur findings highlight the substantial cumulative burden of health loss due to long COVID and emphasize the ongoing need for health care for those faced with long COVID. It appears that the effects of long COVID for many will not only impact such patients and their quality of life, but potentially will contribute to a decline in life expectancy and also may impact labor participation, economic productivity, and societal well-being.
Does prior omicron infection shield against future infection? Maybe not, new research finds
“This research highlights the need for continued vigilance and underscores the importance of ongoing preventive measures against COVID-19.”
Comments closedOmicron infection may leave seniors more susceptible to future COVID infections, say McMaster researchers
“This research highlights the need for continued vigilance and underscores the importance of ongoing preventive measures against COVID-19.”
Comments closedUn médicament québécois démontre son efficacité contre la COVID-19
A cocktail of antibodies developed by the Quebec company Immune Biosolutions has proven its effectiveness in relieving respiratory symptoms caused by COVID-19 in the acute phase of the disease.
Comments closedLong Covid symptoms create a greater burden of disability than heart disease or cancer, new study shows
People who survived Covid-19 early in the pandemic, before there were vaccines, continued to be at higher risk for a slew of health problems for up to two years after they got over their initial infections, compared to others who didn’t test positive, a new study finds, and that was especially true if they were hospitalized.
These health problems include heart problems, blood clots, diabetes, neurologic complications, fatigue and difficulties with mental health and have come to be known collectively as long Covid.
Comments closedSome seniors infected with Omicron variants were more susceptible to reinfection, not less: McMaster study
In a sign that scientists still don’t fully understand how some COVID-19 variants manage to evade the immune system, a new Ontario study has found that retirement- and long-term-care home residents infected during the first Omicron wave were 20 times more likely to get reinfected by the virus than those who avoided a prior infection.
The surprising finding by researchers at McMaster University runs counter to the prevailing wisdom that a previous COVID infection affords protection against future infections, at least in the older adults who participated in the study.
Comments closedMany long-covid symptoms linger even after two years, new study shows
People who endured even mild cases of covid-19 are at heightened risk two years later for lung problems, fatigue, diabetes and certain other health problems typical of long covid, according to a new study that casts fresh light on the virus’s true toll.
The analysis, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, is believed to be the first to document the extent to which an array of aftereffects that patients can develop — as part of the diffuse and sometimes debilitating syndrome known as long covid — linger beyond the initial months or year after they survived a coronavirus infection.
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