Different Virus, Same Problem
Froglet80
In late 2019, when I heard the first reports of a new virus in China that was being compared to SARS, I knew the truth about it. That 90 second story at the end of a newscast, intended as time filler, mentioned lymphopenia. And I turned to my partner as it ended and said, “forget SARS, it sounds like airborne AIDS.”
Today, more than five years after contracting the virus myself – while doing as the gov’t asked me to do and reserving masks for healthcare workers – I have persistent cd4 lymphopenia as the defining feature of my ‘Long Covid,’ as well as a host of other health problems.
I’m really kind of sick of seeing the cliche that Long Covid is fatigue and ‘brain fog’ (which we now know is brain damage). Sure, I have those symptoms. I also have dysautonomia, hypertension, neurological disorders, and a smorgasbord of reactivated and opportunistic infections.
See, cd4 lymphopenia is also literally the same type of immune deficiency caused by HIV, and – in the context of reactivated infections such as cytomegalovirus or variccella, or certain ‘rare’ bacterial & fungal infections? – Is literally the defining characteristic of AIDS.
I’ve told my story ad nauseum on social media platforms. There’s little left to say at this point except ‘different virus, same problem.’ Unfortunately, unlike HIV, there is no treatment for Long Covid.
