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LongCovid Comparison With Pre-2020 Post-Viral Illnesses

The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled a myriad of health challenges, none more perplexing than LongCovid. This condition, characterized by a range of persistent symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 infection, has affected millions globally.

In stark contrast to the transient nature of most viral illnesses, LongCovid presents with symptoms that persist for months, if not years, disrupting lives and overwhelming healthcare systems. This article aims to compare the long-term effects of COVID-19 with those of influenza and other viruses, shedding light on the unique challenges posed by LongCovid.

This article addresses what I believe to be a seriously misleading and dangerously misunderstood report from Australian academics, claiming that LongCovid is simply another post-viral condition which has no specific need for further investigation or treatment.

Personally I believe there is a strong likelihood that the article aims to deflect the much more serious medical situation which has arisen from global public health concerns following serious adverse events in response to Covid mRNA vaccination. And by using LongCovid as a convenient excuse to mask this rapidly growing health emergency, the authors have used invalid and inaccurate research strategies.

The suggestion that LongCovid is no different to the post-viral effect induced by other viruses is grossly inaccurate and clearly, from data gained through scientific and medical studies in the past 3 years, easily rebuked.

Firstly, SARS-COV2 (‘Covid-19’) is not a naturally occurring virus or illness.   Unlike all the other viruses used as a comparator in the study, SARS-COV2 did not naturally evolve, but was meticulously engineered over decades in laboratory conditions to create a pathogen specifically designed to attack humans.

And specifically to target the immune system, just like HIV. Importantly Covid upscaled its legacy damage longevity dramatically by changing the fuel that keeps the human alive, their blood.

By increasing blood viscosity and reducing the ability for oxygen to travel seamlessly throughout the body, the impact was a  mammoth multi-disciplinary encyclopedic list of potential concurrent adverse effects, including specifically irreversible neurological impediments.

This in itself creates a longevity to LongCovid beyond what other naturally occurring pathogens have revealed in past history.

Background

Recent statistics paint a concerning picture of LongCovid’s impact. In the UK, an estimated 1.7 million people have been living with symptoms for at least 12 months, with nearly 400,000 individuals currently reporting a significant impact on their daily activities. The average age of those affected spans from 35 to 69 years, but with a higher prevalence among under 50s females.

And unlike influenza post viral communities, there is a substantial proportion of LongCovid sufferers who were very athletic, physically robust healthy individuals with no underlying illnesses prior to infection. These figures underscore the pervasive nature of LongCovid and its potential to disrupt lives and livelihoods.

The long-term effects of LongCovid are multifaceted. The Perspectum Coverscan study conducted in conjunction with Oxford University showed that many young, low-risk patients exhibited signs of damage to multiple organs post-infection. This research showed that 59% of LongCovid patients experienced persistent multiple organ damage a year after initial symptoms.

In contrast, the long-term effects of influenza are generally less severe and less diverse. Post-influenza syndromes typically include prolonged fatigue and respiratory complications. Only the most severe cases of influenza, a small minority, lead to significant morbidity, predominantly in older adults and those with pre-existing health conditions. While influenza can exacerbate underlying chronic conditions, it rarely leads to the multi-system involvement seen in LongCovid.

The demographic profile of LongCovid sufferers is particularly concerning. It affects a broader and much younger demographic, including a large proportion who were previously very  healthy. This has implications for workforce productivity and healthcare systems, as individuals struggle with the debilitating effects of the condition.

Moreover, LongCovid has been associated with long term, possibly permanent changes in blood viscosity, blood pressure and an increased risk of thrombotic events, strokes, and heart attacks. It has also been linked to disruptions in menstrual cycles and fertility.

While other viruses, such as the varicella-zoster virus, have been associated with an increased risk of stroke, the breadth and depth of LongCovid’s impact on the cardiovascular system and reproductive health are particularly notable.

Another aspect where LongCovid differs from other viral infections is in its impact on mobility. Viruses like poliovirus and West Nile Virus can lead to long-term mobility issues in a small minority but LongCovid has rendered many sufferers physically disabled, unable to perform basic tasks such as walking or dressing themselves.

Influenza, on the other hand, has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events post-infection in the shorter term. One study found that the risk of acute myocardial infarction was six times higher in the seven days following a confirmed influenza infection. Additionally, influenza has been linked to neurological complications, such as encephalitis and Guillain-Barré syndrome, albeit at a lower frequency than COVID-19.

The ability to return to work post-infection is a critical measure of recovery. For LongCovid, one year after hospitalization, only 69% of patients fully returned to work, while 15% did not return and 16% partially returned. Over 45% reported requiring a reduced work schedule compared to pre-illness, and 22.3% were not working at the time of the study due to their health condition.

In contrast, specific data on the percentage of individuals unable to return to work due to long-term effects of influenza is less readily available, but it is generally understood that the long-term effects of influenza are less severe than those of COVID-19, and most people are able to return to work after recovering from the flu within days or weeks.

The economic impact of LongCovid is also noteworthy. A study estimated that the condition could cost the UK economy up to £2.5 billion annually due to lost productivity. This is compounded by the healthcare costs associated with treating the long-term effects of the virus.

While other viruses can lead to long-term health consequences, the scale and severity of LongCovid’s impact are unprecedented in recent history.

The condition affects a broader demographic, leads to multi-system involvement, and has significant implications for individual health and societal functioning.

In conclusion, whilst this Australian study appears to argue that LongCovid is nothing new and simply a post viral infection, like many that have gone before, I believe the truth is actually that this unilateral, non scientific report actually represents part of a politically orchestrated campaign to deny something much more sinister.

The rapidly growing numbers of individuals demonstrating symptoms associated with LongCovid, which have actually arisen as a result of the damages caused by Covid vaccinations, is far more likely to be the motivation of these report writers.

By undermining and ridiculing the genuine LongCovid sufferers (whether vaxed or unvaxed) the resultant affect would be to silence the voices of a huge and growing number of individuals which fall into both groups of genuine victims.

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ON THE EDGE: Two Years Living With LongCovid

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This is a short video with a compilation of different TV radio and other interviews I did on bealf of the longcovid support group filmed at the time of my second year anniversary with the condition

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ON THE EDGE: Two Years Living With LongCovid

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June 2020 : My First National News Interview

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June 2020 : My First National News Interview

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My first national television news interview took place in June 2020 and the notion of longcovid had only really just started so very few people believed it and when I look back at this I get very upset because so many people trolled me, sent horrid messages and obviously my only two living relatives just laughed at me effectively

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Huge thanks to special guest @gezmedinger and everyone who came along but if you missed it, here is the recording of our #LongCovid exclusive with experts and sufferers across the globe.

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Scheduled: VIP LONGCOVID INTERVIEW - Gez Medinger Film Producer Author

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Moneypenny’s Space · Where live audio conversations happen

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Huge thanks to special guest @gezmedinger and everyone who came along but if you missed it, here is the recording of our #LongCovid exclusive with experts and sufferers across the globe. https://t.co/QtfRfcZocc

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Huge thanks to special guest @gezmedinger and everyone who came along but if you missed it, here is the recording of our #LongCovid exclusive with experts and sufferers across the globe. https://t.co/QtfRfcZocc
— Moneypenny (@nic_moneypenny) February 23, 2023

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Huge thanks to special guest @gezmedinger and everyone who came along but if you missed it, here is the recording of our #LongCovid exclusive with experts and sufferers across the globe. https://t.co/QtfRfcZocc

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Scheduled: VIP LONGCOVID INTERVIEW - Gez Medinger Film Producer Author

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.entities.urls[].description
Moneypenny’s Space · Where live audio conversations happen

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Huge thanks to special guest @gezmedinger and everyone who came along but if you missed it, here is the recording of our #LongCovid exclusive with experts and sufferers across the globe. https://t.co/QtfRfcZocc

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Huge thanks to special guest @gezmedinger and everyone who came along but if you missed it, here is the recording of our #LongCovid exclusive with experts and sufferers across the globe.

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Scheduled: VIP LONGCOVID INTERVIEW - Gez Medinger Film Producer Author

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.entities.urls[].description
Moneypenny’s Space · Where live audio conversations happen

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Governments worldwide are increasingly recognising big rises in labour force inactivity with headlines of 'Mass Disablement' But a complete failure to provide resources for millions of #LongCovid sufferers short-term will lead to economic meltdown long-term.

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Governments worldwide are increasingly recognising big rises in labour force inactivity with headlines of 'Mass Disablement' But a complete failure to provide resources for millions of #LongCovid sufferers short-term will lead to economic meltdown long-term. https://t.co/DecvwAtBkO

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Governments worldwide are increasingly recognising big rises in labour force inactivity with headlines of 'Mass Disablement' But a complete failure to provide resources for millions of #LongCovid sufferers short-term will lead to economic meltdown long-term. pic.twitter.com/DecvwAtBkO
— Moneypenny (@nic_moneypenny) April 23, 2023

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
Governments worldwide are increasingly recognising big rises in labour force inactivity with headlines of 'Mass Disablement' But a complete failure to provide resources for millions of #LongCovid sufferers short-term will lead to economic meltdown long-term. https://t.co/DecvwAtBkO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
Governments worldwide are increasingly recognising big rises in labour force inactivity with headlines of 'Mass Disablement' But a complete failure to provide resources for millions of #LongCovid sufferers short-term will lead to economic meltdown long-term. https://t.co/DecvwAtBkO

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
Governments worldwide are increasingly recognising big rises in labour force inactivity with headlines of 'Mass Disablement' But a complete failure to provide resources for millions of #LongCovid sufferers short-term will lead to economic meltdown long-term.

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NHS staff shortages in England could exceed 570,000 by 2036, leaked document warns

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The NHS in England needs a massive injection of homegrown doctors, nurses, GPs and dentists to avert a recruitment crisis that could leave it short of 571,000 staff, according to an internal document seen by the Guardian.

A long-awaited workforce plan produced by NHS England says the health service is already operating with 154,000 fewer full-time staff than it needs, and that number could balloon to 571,000 staff by 2036 on current trends.

The 107-page blueprint, which is being examined by ministers, sets out detailed proposals to end the understaffing that has plagued the health service for years. It says that without radical action, the NHS in England will have 28,000 fewer GPs, 44,000 fewer community nurses and an even greater lack of paramedics within 15 years.

It suggests that the NHS will not be able to cope with the increasing demand for care that will arise in coming years as a result of the growing and ageing population. Services in rural areas, which already struggle to attract enough staff, will be left unable to give patients - especially older people - the help and treatment they need, it warns.

NHS England also makes clear in the blueprint its view, which is widely shared by health experts and staff groups, that the government must ditch its reliance on hiring more and more overseas health professionals and spending billions of pounds a year on temporary staff.

A recent draft of the plan revealed that the NHS was operating with 154,000 fewer full-time staff than it needs - far more than the official figure of 124,000.

In a thinly veiled plea to ministers to kickstart an ambitious programme to give the NHS enough personnel, it added: "Without any intervention or improvement in productivity, the workforce shortfall will grow to 571,000 full-time equivalents by 2036/37." Those 571,000 staff are the equivalent of more than a third (37%) of the service's existing 1.6 million-strong workforce.

However, the Guardian understands that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is playing a key role in behind-the-scenes moves by the Treasury to water down NHS England's proposals to double the number of doctors that the UK trains and increase the number of new nurses trained every year by 77% - because it would cost several billion pounds to do that.

His stance has led to a standoff with his cabinet colleague Steve Barclay, who is backing the plan. The health secretary believes that while NHS England's projections are ambitious, they are also a realistic assessment of the dramatic scale of action needed to eradicate the severe staff shortages that are hampering the NHS's ability to meet waiting time targets for A&E care, cancer treatment and surgery, and endangering the quality and safety of care that patients receive.

A senior NHS leader said: "Jeremy Hunt has been very resistant to the numbers in the workforce plan. The Treasury and Hunt don't want numbers in it. They want it to be not very precise. They want the numbers to be projected in a different way that would be less expensive and to not commit to training specific numbers of doctors, nurses and others.

"While intellectually Hunt gets it, and emotionally he gets the patient safety argument, it seems that his priority, if the government has any financial headroom, is to use that for tax cuts or giving the army more money rather than training more doctors, nurses and speech and language therapists.

"The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) are flying the flag for the plan and what's needed. Steve Barclay wants the plan to move forward. But there's some significant pushback from the Treasury and from the chancellor himself."

Hunt is balking at the cost of taking forward NHS England's proposals. The document says that while the UK currently has 7,500 medical school places, double that - 15,000 - is required.

Similarly, the number of trainee GPs in England needs to jump from 4,000 to 6,000 and the annual supply of nurses to increase from 29,865 to 52,722 - a 77% uplift. The plan also says that the number of dentists needs to rise by 40%, and of physiotherapists and their allied health professionals by 20%.

The NHS needs to increase the overall number of all types of health professionals it trains from 66,032 to 102,484, a 55% rise, the document concludes.

It is due to be published shortly, once the disagreement over its contents has been resolved.

Hunt's stance is in contrast to his enthusiastic backing, while chair of the Commons health select committee, for a massive expansion of the NHS workforce and publication of regular projections for how many staff of different types it needed to keep pace with the growing burden of illness.

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The plan raises major concerns about the use of temporary staff to ensure safe staffing levels in hospitals. Spending on bank and agency staff has risen by 51% and 26% respectively since 2020, it says. "Use of agency staff is expensive and offers poor value for money for the taxpayer." It also cites "increasing evidence that use of temporary staffing - particularly agency staff - can have a negative impact on patient and staff experience, and continuity of care."

It also voices unease about the recent surge in the number of overseas workers in the NHS. They now account for one in six of the workforce - double the number in 2014. "International recruitment has supported necessary increases in some staff groups, such as doctors and nurses, but does not offer a universal solution to rising workforce demand," the plan says.

Opposition parties accused the Conservatives of leaving the NHS unable to do its job properly by doing too little about NHS understaffing for years.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said: "This is a national emergency. The NHS is experiencing the worst workforce crisis in its history and it is crying out for the government to act. Until the Conservatives admit they have failed to train enough staff, patients will continue to wait too long for the care they need."

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrats' health spokesperson, said: "Our NHS is already struggling to recruit and retain the staff it desperately needs but these future projections should be a wake-up call to a Conservative government that continues to sit on its hands. Those dedicated NHS workers that turn up day in, day out need to know that the cavalry is coming."

Anita Charlesworth, the director of research at the Health Foundation thinktank, said: "Around half of newly recruited NHS doctors and nurses are currently trained overseas - in the long term this is unsustainable and unethical in the context of a global shortage of medical staff.

"Relying on agency staff to plug gaps pushes up the cost of care, a prime example of the inefficiency resulting from the Treasury's failure to spend on training new staff. The NHS workforce plan must set out comprehensive, long-term measures to recruit and retain the domestically trained staff needed by the NHS, and commit the funding to pay for this."

A government spokesperson said: "We're growing the healthcare workforce, recruiting 50,000 more nurses and we have almost hit our target of delivering 26,000 additional primary care staff.

"The NHS will soon publish a long-term workforce plan to support and grow the workforce."

A DHSC source said: "We are driving forward progress to recruit more staff into the NHS to help treat patients more quickly, with more than 4,800 doctors and almost 10,900 more nurses compared to a year ago."

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NHS staff shortages in England could exceed 570,000 by 2036, leaked document warns

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The NHS in England needs a massive injection of homegrown doctors, nurses, GPs and dentists to avert a recruitment crisis that could leave it short of 571,000 staff, according to an internal document seen by the Guardian.

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How common is long COVID? Why studies give different answers

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Clinical epidemiologist Ziyad Al-Aly has access to a treasure trove that many researchers can only dream of: millions of sets of electronic medical records from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which provides health care for the country's military veterans.

With this data in hand, Al-Aly, who is based at the VA St. Louis Healthcare System in Missouri, and his colleagues have delved into the long-term effects of COVID-19, from cardiovascular illness to diabetes. They have also undertaken the challenge of studying long COVID - a condition in which people experience symptoms months after an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection seems to have resolved - and recently published findings that surprised some researchers. The team found that previous vaccination only reduces the risk of developing long COVID after infection by about 15%, which is substantially less than some other estimates, which suggested that vaccines halved the risk.

It is the kind of whiplash result that people following long-COVID research have become accustomed to seeing, as data from various studies report discordant results. Differences in how the syndrome is defined, the kinds of data used to study it and how those data are analysed have left both the public and policymakers grappling with disparate answers to basic questions. How frequent is long COVID? And how does vaccination or reinfection or the latest SARS-CoV-2 variant affect the risk of developing the condition?

The answers to those questions can be used to develop COVID-19 policies, but the steady drip-drip of seesawing studies can also cause confusion, says Al-Aly. Having so much uncertainty doesn't engender a lot of trust, Al-Aly adds: "The public does not react very well to saying 'between 15% and 50%'."

Slippery definition

Part of the problem is the definition of long COVID, which has been linked to more than 200 symptoms, the severity of which can vary from inconvenient to debilitating. The syndrome can last for months or years, and has a distressing tendency to reappear, sometimes months after an apparent recovery.

So far, there is no agreement on how to define and diagnose long COVID. The World Health Organization's attempt at a consensus, published in 2021, has not proved popular with patient advocates or researchers, and studies continue to use a range of criteria to define the condition. Estimates of its prevalence can range from 5-50%.

A study of such a complex condition needs to be sufficiently large to reflect the range of symptoms and the possible impact of characteristics such as age and the severity of the acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. This is where analyses like Al-Aly's offer a host of advantages: data from large health-care networks can provide enormous sample sizes. Al-Aly's study of long COVID after a 'breakthrough' infection - one that follows vaccination - included records from more than 13 million people. Although 90% of those people were men, that still left 1.3 million women in the analysis, Al-Aly notes, more than many other studies can muster.

Big-number benefits

These large numbers, as well as the types of data available in some health records, allow researchers to perform complicated statistical analyses to carefully match the demographics of people infected with coronavirus to an uninfected control group, says Theo Vos, an epidemiologist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle, who has worked with a variety of data sources to study long COVID.

But there are also drawbacks. "People mistake the size of the study with its quality and its validity," says Walid Gellad, a physician who studies health policy at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

In particular, Gellad worries that studies that rely on electronic health records will be muddied by behavioural differences. For example, compared with someone who does not seek medical care for acute COVID-19, someone who does might be more likely to report long-COVID symptoms, he says.

Moreover, medical records and health insurance claims might not reflect a demographically diverse population, says computational epidemiologist Maimuna Majumder at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. This is particularly likely in the United States, she says, where health insurance coverage varies widely. "The number of data points considered is often so large that we mistakenly assume that these data must be representative," she says. "But this isn't necessarily the case."

Majumder also wonders whether studying claims data could lead researchers to undercount the number of people with long COVID, because many people might not seek medical care for their condition.

Coding lessons

Another issue is how symptoms are recorded in the claims and electronic medical records. Doctors often record codes for several symptoms and conditions, but they rarely list a code for every symptom a patient is experiencing, says Vos, and the choice of codes for a given condition might vary from one doctor to the next. This could lead to differences in whether and how long COVID is reported. "Electronic health records have useful information in them, without a doubt," says Gellad, who says that the VA study was particularly well designed. "But for answering the question of how common something is, they may not be the best."

Other methods also have their pitfalls. Some studies rely on self-reporting, such as the COVID Symptom Study app developed by King's College London and the data-science company ZOE, also in London. Data from the app showed that vaccination reduced people's risk of experiencing long COVID 28 days or more after an acute infection by about half. But studies in which people voluntarily self-report their symptoms can be biased, because people who have symptoms are more likely to participate, says Gellad. And studies that rely on smartphone apps might not fully capture data from disadvantaged communities.

One particularly useful source of data has been the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), says Nisreen Alwan, a public-health researcher at the University of Southampton, UK. In May, the ONS reported that the variant of SARS-CoV-2 that people are infected with can affect their risk of developing long COVID. Among double-vaccinated participants, those thought to have COVID-19 caused by the Omicron BA.1 variant were roughly 50% less likely to develop long COVID symptoms four to eight weeks after infection than were participants whose infections were probably caused by the Delta variant. This finding is in line with the results of an 18 June paper based on ZOE data.

Seeking a common thread

Alwan, who has long COVID and has advocated for the collection of data on the condition, praises the ONS study design, which involved enrolling a group of people with careful attention to representing the UK population, and then following up with them to ask about their infection status and symptoms.

Other aspects of study design, such as whether a control group is used, can strongly affect results, says Alwan. But accounting for disparate methods and definitions need not stall research. "That's not something new," she says. "It's something that we had before COVID, for other conditions."

For Al-Aly, the discrepancies among study results are not surprising, nor are they damning. Epidemiologists often weave together evidence from multiple sources of data and methods of analysis, he says. Even if it is difficult to precisely quantify vaccination's effect on long-COVID risk, for example, researchers can look for trends. "You search for the common thread," Al-Aly says. "The common thread here is that vaccines are better than no vaccines."
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01702-2

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How common is long COVID? Why studies give different answers

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Enormous databases do not necessarily allow scientists to solve long COVID mysteries, such as how well vaccination protects against the condition. Enormous databases do not necessarily allow scientists to solve long COVID mysteries, such as how well vaccination protects against the condition.

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Long haul COVID-19 victims experiencing bizarre symptoms after recovery | 60 Minutes Australia

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Long haul COVID-19 victims experiencing bizarre symptoms after recovery | 60 Minutes Australia

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How Covid left me permanently disabled: "I was actively suicidal" | Sunday Times News

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British Military Pilot & Journalist Became Suicidal

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British Military Pilot & Journalist Became Suicidal

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How Covid left me permanently disabled: "I was actively suicidal" | Sunday Times News

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1 Million Americans Left Workforce With LongCovid 

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1 Million Americans Left Workforce With LongCovid 

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Analysis | What Experts Know About 'Long Covid' and Who Gets It

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Experts Predict Millions To Suffer After Mild Covid

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Experts Predict Millions To Suffer After Mild Covid

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A nurse checks on a patient in the ICU Covid-19 ward at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021. Mississippi and Arkansas face shortages of available intensive care beds as the delta variant sparks yet another surge in coronavirus cases around the country, reports NBC News. Photographer: Houston Cofield/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)

Most people who suffer from Covid-19 fully recover. Millions of others find complete healing to be frustratingly elusive, in what's often referred to as long Covid. Symptoms range from pulmonary, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal or neurological problems to cognitive issues such as so-called brain fog. No single explanation, diagnosis or treatment can be applied to them. Colloquially known as long-haulers, these patients reflect the pandemic's lasting burden on society and the economy.

1. What is long Covid?

There's no universally accepted definition yet. According to the World Health Organization, people with what it calls "post Covid-19 condition" have symptoms usually three months after an initial bout of Covid that last for at least two months and can't be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Symptoms may persist from the acute phase of the illness or appear after -- even in a person who displayed no symptoms initially. They may also fluctuate. Other groups have proposed alternative definitions. The UK's National Health Service, for example, suggests referring to symptoms that last more than four weeks as "ongoing symptomatic Covid," and "post-Covid syndrome" if they persist for longer than 12 weeks and can't be otherwise explained. Another definition may be needed for children.

2. How often does it occur?

It's too soon to say. The lack of a standard definition variables such as what group is being studied and when the data were collected can lead to widely different results. For example:

* A report in May from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found about 1 in 5 adults between 18 and 64 years old had a health problem that might be attributable to a previous Covid infection.

* A study in July that accounted for pre-infection symptoms in a nationally representative sample of Americans in the first year of the pandemic found that 23% experience at least one symptom that emerges around the time of infection and lasts for more than 12 weeks.

* Another large study published last year, using data from the US Department of Veterans Affairs, estimated that about 7% of people had at least one symptom of long Covid six months after their infection. The incidence beyond the first 12 weeks of illness was 4.1% among those never hospitalized for Covid, 16% among those who were hospitalized and 23% among patients who were admitted to intensive care. The study also found differences in symptoms by age, race, sex and baseline health status.

Other studies have found the likelihood of long Covid is greater among women, the middle-aged and the obese.

3. What are the post-Covid symptoms?

Tiredness and shortness of breath are commonly reported as well as brain fog - difficulty with concentration or memory. Other prolonged symptoms include fever, cough, palpitations or pain in the chest, joints, muscles or abdomen. Neurological symptoms include headaches, disturbed sleep, tingling or numbness, or dizziness. Digestive issues can cover nausea, diarrhea or reduced appetite. Some people report a diminution of the sense of taste or smell, tinnitus, earaches or a sore throat. Depression or anxiety also can occur.

4. Do variants carry different long Covid risks?

It appears so, though identifying them is complicated by other factors, such as prior Covid immunizations and infections. For example, the UK's Office for National Statistics found in May that the odds of reporting fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating and other persistent symptoms were 50% lower following infections likely caused by the omicron BA.1 variant than those likely caused by the delta strain. The difference was only found among adults who were double-vaccinated when infected. Among those who'd had three shots, the difference wasn't statistically significant. Among triple-vaccinated adults, however, the odds of reporting long Covid were higher following infection with the omicron BA.2 variant than the BA.1 variant, the analysis found.

5. What causes it?

Some health problems are well understood, others aren't. For instance, survivors can experience problems as a result of:

* the direct effect of the virus on organs and tissues

* the propensity of Covid to cause bleeding and clots that can restrict or block blood vessels including in the lung, which can cause a pulmonary embolism

* excessive inflammation by the immune system

* the body's failure to properly repair injured lungs and other organs, leading to the formation of scar tissue

* a lack of oxygen in the blood that injures the brain, lungs and other organs

* an imbalance in the microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract

* life-saving treatment, including the use of mechanical ventilation, corticosteroids, sedatives and painkillers administered in intensive care.

In a study published in January, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington in Seattle found the risk of long Covid is increased by multiple early factors, including antibodies directed against their own tissues or organs known as autoantibodies, and a resurgence of the Epstein-Barr virus. Based on what's been observed with other viral diseases and research so far, other scientists speculate that different biological and genetic factors may be driving symptoms, none of which are mutually exclusive. These may include:

* chronic, systemic inflammation

* immune dysregulation, such as when the body's immune system overreacts or underreacts to a foreign invader

* interactions with the host microbiome, or microorganisms living in the body

* problems with the autonomic nervous system

* the persistence of viral particles or remnants in the body.

6. Is Covid-19 definitely to blame for these symptoms?

Not necessarily. Some symptoms might occur by chance or be triggered by stress or environmental factors such as allergens, while some pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes, might have gone undiagnosed until Covid prompted medical attention. Social restrictions, lockdowns, school and business closures, loss of livelihood, decreases in economic activity and shifting priorities of governments all have the potential to substantially affect mental health, according to a study that appeared Oct. 8 in the Lancet. It found the pandemic has resulted in an extra 53.2 million cases of major depressive disorder and an extra 76.2 million cases of anxiety disorders globally. Diagnostic uncertainties have sometimes led to what patients describe as "medical gaslighting" by health professionals who don't take their complaints seriously, especially if the patient is a woman.

7. Do vaccines help prevent it?

In a way, in that vaccination is the most effective tool to reduce the risk of getting infected by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid, in the first place and it mitigates the likelihood of becoming severely ill. A UK study found receiving a second dose of a coronavirus vaccine at least two weeks before an infection was associated with a 41% decrease in the odds of self-reported long Covid at least 12 weeks later. Data from Israel support the finding, though a larger study of some 13 million users of the US Veterans Health Administration system in May found vaccination is associated with only a 15.7% reduction in the risk of long Covid.

8. How serious is it?

Most long Covid symptoms don't seem to be life-threatening, but things like shortness of breath or fatigue can be disabling. For some Covid survivors, the infection may damage vital organs and exacerbate other diseases, the effects of which may not become apparent for months, like a ticking time bomb. Some of the conditions that may manifest later include cardiac arrest, stroke, heart failure, pulmonary embolism, myocarditis and chronic kidney disease. Doctors have also noted an uptick in cases of diabetes linked to Covid. A study in February based on the veterans database in the US found the virus may significantly increase a person's risk of heart disease for at least a year after recovery -- even if the person wasn't hospitalized. Other studies from the US, UK and Germany showed that people who were hospitalized for Covid have an increased risk of being readmitted or dying 6 to 12 months later.

9. Do people recover from long Covid?

The health trajectories of Covid survivors vary widely -- from a complete resolution and a return to previous level of health in most people, to needing lung transplants in a small minority. A UK study of hospitalized patients published in January found that a year after discharge, fewer than 3 in 10 patients reported feeling fully recovered. It's possible the use of treatments for Covid, including monoclonal antibody therapies and antiviral medications, reduces the likelihood of long Covid, though this hasn't been demonstrated. There is emerging evidence that multidisciplinary rehabilitation services can improve a patient's prospects of recovery.

10. What are the broader implications?

The disability attributable to long Covid could account for as much as 30% of the pandemic's health burden, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine estimated. An uptick in treatments for depression, anxiety and pain has stoked concern of a spike in suicides and opioid overdoses. Surveys of long Covid sufferers indicate the condition is leading to reduced work schedules and absenteeism, which has implications for labor productivity. With more than 560 million confirmed infections worldwide as of mid-2022, even a small share with long-term disability could have enormous social and economic consequences. The US Government Accountability Office said in a March 2 report that long Covid could affect the broader US economy through decreased labor participation and an increased need for use of Social Security disability insurance or other publicly subsidized insurance.

11. Do other pathogens cause prolonged illness?

Yes, scientists say it's actually an expected phenomenon. For example, post-viral syndromes can occur after the common cold, influenza, HIV, infectious mononucleosis, measles, Ebola and hepatitis B. Diabetes and other long-term consequences were observed in survivors of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, which is caused by a related coronavirus. A Canadian study identified 21 health-care workers from Toronto who had post-viral symptoms for as long as three years after catching SARS in 2003 and were unable to return to their usual work. Some people who were hospitalized with SARS in Hong Kong had impaired lung function two years later, a study of 55 patients published in 2010 found. Still, it's not known yet whether the lessons of SARS are applicable to Covid-19. Long Covid shares characteristics with many other long-term health conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome and a blood-circulation disorder known as POTS. Studies into the drivers of long Covid could improve understanding of the causes of these conditions also.

12. What is being done?

In the US, the National Institutes of Health was allocated $1.15 billion in funding to support research into the long-term effects of Covid. The studies hopes to get at issues such as the underlying biological causes and how they might be treated and prevented. Some researchers are pressing governments to focus attention on potential long-term organ damage. For example, researchers have shown the virus can infect insulin-producing pancreatic tissue, potentially triggering diabetes that in some cases persists beyond the acute infection. That's prompted Australia's Monash University and King's College London to create a global registry for studying "new onset" diabetes. Some long haulers have reported feeling better after receiving a Covid vaccination, prompting researchers to examine the phenomenon and whether vaccines can offer clues to treatment. Avindra Nath, clinical director of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said vaccines, including for flu, have been known to help patients with chronic fatigue, but relief has almost always been temporary.

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More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Analysis | What Experts Know About 'Long Covid' and Who Gets It

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Most people who suffer from Covid-19 fully recover. Millions of others find complete healing to be frustratingly elusive, in what's often referred to as long Covid. Symptoms range from pulmonary, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal or neurological problems to cognitive issues such as so-called brain fog. No single explanation, diagnosis or treatment can be applied to them.

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New Dutch Report Shows Serious Illness Could Last Yrs

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New Dutch Report Shows Serious Illness Could Last Yrs

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Economies Diving As Workers Falling Ill Or Dieing Suddenly 

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Economies Diving As Workers Falling Ill Or Dieing Suddenly 

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Serious longterm illness will haunt 1 in 8 people

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Serious longterm illness will haunt 1 in 8 people

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During the first two months of being very sick the doctors had absolutely no idea what was wrong and it would be unheard of for a British person to have covid in January and February of 2020 so this was dismissed. The illness was getting worse and I was asked to monitor extreme blood pressure, blood sugar, arrhythmia, skin eruptions, abdominal swellings and bleeding at home, alone, as it was throughout lockdown. I was terrified.

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I tested positive for yellow fever and my blood was sent to the UK Government 'secret laboratory' at Porton Down

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There have been many mysterious things happen during the past few years but for me the most odd was abnormalities coming up on various blood tests which were beyond medical and scientific explanation in the first few months before anyone acknowledged what SARS-COV-2 was capable of.

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As I was one of the first diagnosed British patients with Longcovid sequelae syndrome and had been in touch with scientists sharing my theories and audit of symptoms, Oxford University invited me to work with them on the first major trial examining organ damage. My own results showed myocarditis, several lesions on my liver, reduced kidney function, inflamed spleen and my blood results were very abnormal

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Prior to covert I was a healthy normal weight person who enjoyed lots of outdoor activity particularly on my motorbike racing around the Cotswolds. Since week two I have had dangerously high blood pressure a condition called hypertension and problems with my heart which are now controlled with drugs I take everyday

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These are my legs and this photograph could have been taken at any point during the first two years as this gross inflammation, purple coloured rash, tiny black bruises and swollen joints has now been with me throughout.

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Probably of all the most dramatic life threatening illnesses I have sustained in the past few years is sepsis but in particular this shows the eruption of a rapid septic bursitis which did not respond to antibiotics and required paramedics to attend and led to my first near-death experience