Long Covid Land Toolbox
Long-COVID signatures identified in huge analysis of
blood proteins
Researchers have developed a computational model that predicts how likely a person is to develop long COVID, based on an analysis of more than 6,500 proteins found in blood.
In a study published on 18 January in Science1, the team compared blood samples from people who tested positive for COVID-19 with ones from healthy adults, and found notable differences in the composition of proteins in people with long COVID, those who recovered and those who were never infected.
The analysis suggests that proteins involved in immune responses, blood clotting and inflammation could be key biomarkers in diagnosing and monitoring long COVID, which affects an estimated 65 million people worldwide.
Long Covid-19 Foundation
Paving the way to a world, where no life is lost or ruined by Coronavirus.
- Ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 – symptoms that last 4-12 weeks
- Post-COVID-19 syndrome – symptoms that last for more than 12 weeks and can’t be explained by another diagnosis
It can affect multiple systems in whole body, and your symptoms can change and come and go over time. It has been seen that despite how severe or mild covid infection was, people still can develop prolonged symptoms. A wide range of long-term symptoms are reported, among others: chest pain, headache, muscle pain, pins and needles, forgetfulness, depression, loss of smell, persistent cough, shortness of breath, palpitations, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, rash, recurrent fever.
There are many reports from people who feel they do not regain their previous health following COVID-19. Preliminary results from a nationally representative sample survey by the UK Office for National Statistics estimates that around 1 in 10 respondents testing positive for COVID-19 may exhibit symptoms for a period of 12 weeks or longer. Other studies indicate that around a third of people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 had not returned to their usual state of health when interviewed 3 to 6 weeks after diagnosis. In addition, recent studies found that 30% of COVID-19 patients surveyed still had persistent symptoms after nine months. It should be noted that the majority of patients surveyed (85%) were outpatients with mild illness. Some medical doctors have concluded that Long Covid develops due to not treated COVID-19 or not treated aggressively when this was needed.
How and why patients made Long Covid
Patients collectively made Long Covid – and cognate term ‘Long-haul Covid’ – in the first months of the pandemic. Patients, many with initially ‘mild’ illness, used various kinds of evidence and advocacy to demonstrate a longer, more complex course of illness than laid out in initial reports from Wuhan. Long Covid has a strong claim to be the first illness created through patients finding one another on Twitter: it moved from patients, through various media, to formal clinical and policy channels in just a few months. This initial mapping of Long Covid – by two patients with this illness – focuses on actors in the UK and the USA and demonstrates how patients marshalled epistemic authority. Patient knowledge needs to be incorporated into how COVID-19 is conceptualized, researched, and treated.
Immunology of Long COVID
Long COVID refers to the long-term health and cognition effects that some people experience following infection with COVID-19. Patients have reported unrelenting fatigue, brain fog, dysautonomia, shortness of breath, and digestive problems, among over 200 symptoms — in some cases requiring frequent or even long-term hospitalization. The Iwasaki Lab is interested in exploring the biological mechanisms underlying these phenotypes — and how future research can harness this knowledge to engineer more effective and specific biomarkers for long COVID.
As researchers continue to examine how such patterns can provide information indicative of long COVID, Iwasaki proposes four possible hypotheses for the condition’s initiation and progression.
Experiences of Canadians with long-term symptoms following COVID-19
by Sianne Kuang, Steven Earl, Janine Clarke, Dianne Zakaria, Alain Demers, and Samina Aziz
Release date: December 8, 2023
Overview of Study
- As of June 2023, about two-thirds of Canadian adults reported at least one confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection, with many reporting more than one infection since the beginning of the pandemic.
- Multiple infections were more commonly reported among certain racialized groups; Black Canadians were most likely to report multiple infections compared to other racialized groups.
- About 3.5 million Canadian adults reported experiencing long-term symptoms following a COVID-19 infection; 2.1 million reported they were still experiencing those symptoms as of June 2023. Almost half of those still experiencing symptoms reported they have not seen any improvement in symptoms over time.
- Among Canadians who were in school or employed and dealing with long-term symptoms, more than 1 in 5 missed days of school or work, missing 24 days on average.
- About 40% of those with long-term symptoms who sought healthcare about their symptoms reported difficulties with access.
- Adults with chronic conditions and senior adults were more likely to have been vaccinated in the 6 months prior to June 2023.
Clinical characteristics of Long COVID patients presenting to a dedicated academic post-COVID-19 clinic in Central Texas
The majority of PASC ( Long COVID) patients in our cohort had mild to moderate acute COVID-19 disease and did not require hospitalization. Most patients experienced ongoing symptoms for the past 10 months, with significant functional impairment, indicating that PASC is a long-term debilitating illness for affected patients. Notably, there was significant symptom overlap between patients, suggesting likely overlapping pathophysiology across PASC. Given the complexity of the diagnosis and treatment of PASC, multispecialty clinics are required to meet the needs of the PASC patient population with the integration of research studies toward a better understanding of the long-term health consequences of PASC and developing evidence-based PASC treatments.
Civilian Labor Force - With a Disability, 16 Years and Over (US)
What is FRED? Short for Federal Reserve Economic Data, FRED is an online database consisting of hundreds of thousands of economic data time series from scores of national, international, public, and private sources. FRED, created and maintained by the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, goes far beyond simply providing data: It combines data with a powerful mix of tools that help the user understand, interact with, display, and disseminate the data.
The graph shows rising disabilities ststs (updated October 2023) observing over 8,000 workers from June 2008 through October 2023. Look at what happens in 2021, a year after the COVID-19 pandemic started.