Long-Covid – that series of symptoms that accompanies between 20 and 40 percent of people who come into contact with Sars-CoV-2 for months – may not always have the same face. The manifestations of this condition would in fact seem changeable. And related to the coronavirus variant with which you are infected. A new hypothesis, presented for the first time by a group of infectious disease specialists from the Careggi University Hospital in Florence during the European Congress dedicated to clinical microbiology and infectious diseases underway in Lisbon. Long-Covid: what it is
Some people who have had Covid-19 can suffer from variable and debilitating symptoms for many months after the initial infection. This condition is commonly referred to as Long-Covid. There is no exact definition, but people who continue to experience symptoms even two months or more after testing negative for a swab are generally considered to be affected by this condition. It is mainly people who have previously suffered from a moderate or severe form of the disease to blame. But in reality, Long-Covid is now present in the lives of those who, after the infection, have developed symptoms comparable to those of a common flu. The warning signs are as follows: persistent fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, anosmia (loss of smell), muscle weakness, fever, cognitive dysfunction (Covid “fog”), tachycardia, intestinal disorders and skin manifestations. This is common to other infections. Even after the SARS epidemic and the chikungunya and Ebola outbreaks, some patients continued to experience some symptoms for several months. Beyond rehabilitation, which is effective for respiratory and cognitive problems, it is still unclear how these people can be helped to recover.Long-Covid: the role of symptoms
In the study in question, the white coats retrospectively analyzed the course of the infection in 428 patients (254 men and 174 women) treated in the Florentine polyclinic between the months of June 2020 and 2021. That is, in a phase in which a circular was the Alpha variant. All hospitalized, the patients were interviewed once one to three months after the end of hospitalization. Three quarters of them reported at least one persistent symptom: shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, sleep and vision disturbances, and brain “clouding”. The analysis found that patients who had had the most severe forms of Covid-19 – to the point of requiring oxygen support or the use of immunosuppressants such as Tocilizumab – were up to six times more likely to report the symptoms of Long-Covid.Different impact depending on the variants
The reflection on the variants emerged by comparing the symptoms described by infected patients in the first and second wave (March-December 2020, when the original version of Sars-CoV-2 prevailed) with those reported by another sample of men and women infected between January and April 2021 (with the Alpha variant). Hence a substantial variation in the panel of neurological and cognitive symptoms described. In the case of the Alpha variant, the most represented sequelae were myalgia (muscle and bone pain), insomnia, anxiety, depression and the so-called “brain fog” (slowness and blurred thinking). However, some consequences of the first round of infections are less common: anosmia (loss of smell), dysgeusia (loss of taste) and hearing impairment. “These symptoms, always included among those of the Long-Covid, today they are divided for the first time also taking into account the variant from which they were infected – says Michele Spinicci, infectious disease specialist at the University of Florence and coordinator of the study: not yet published in a scientific magazine -. Research must also focus on this aspect, as well as on the impact of vaccination on the persistence of symptoms “.Omicron, vaccination and Long-Covid
The first evidence – summarized in a review by the United Kingdom Health Safety Agency – seems to suggest a protective role of vaccination also against Long-Covid. However, still preliminary evidence, which will have to find the support of further data. As well as the impact of the Omicron variant remains to be clarified. In light of its high contagiousness, it will have a different impact on Long-Covid
If the share of people who continue to carry the consequences of the infection were to remain unchanged, with the infections caused by the last variant, an explosion of chronically ill patients would be expected. Given the recent spread of Omicron, however, at the moment one can only make assumptions. It has been seen that the infection, in vaccinated people, has a faster and less severe course. This will be enough to contain the numbers of the Long-Covid
Or the quantitative aspect will prevail, considering that even mild cases of the disease can lead to the development of the symptoms indicated above for several months
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