Global News About COVID and Long COVID

Researchers Hunt Biomarkers – Potential Keys to Long COVID
WebMD — January 6, 2023

Excerpt: Many studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that women are more likely than men to develop long COVID. There could be biological reasons. Women’s immune systems generally mount stronger reactions to viruses, bacteria, parasites and other germs, noted Sabra Klein, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies immunity.

People struggling with the effects of long COVID may have noticeable problems with attention, memory, and executive function. Studies report these issues both in people who were not hospitalized with COVID and in those who were, as well as in people who had severe cases. These findings raise some important questions about how COVID-19 infection affects cognition.

A recent study published by a group of German researchers suggests that even people who don’t notice signs of cognitive impairment can have problems with memory and attention after recovering from a mild case of COVID-19.

Long COVID: What scientists have learned about the symptoms affecting millions around the world
CBS News — December 26, 2022

Excerpt: Many studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that women are more likely than men to develop long COVID. There could be biological reasons. Women’s immune systems generally mount stronger reactions to viruses, bacteria, parasites and other germs, noted Sabra Klein, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies immunity. Women are also much more likely than men to have autoimmune diseases, where the body mistakenly attacks its own healthy cells. Some scientists believe long COVID could result from an autoimmune response triggered by the virus.

Long COVID Risk Makes It Worth Avoiding Second Infections
WebMD — December 19, 2022
This features input from Dr. Michael Peluso, who is on our team.

Excerpt: New research suggests that those infected more than once have an increased risk of developing long COVID and other health problems compared to those infected just once. But parsing out the extent of these risks – particularly with newer variants – is more complicated, Truong and other experts say, particularly when factoring in vaccinations and antiviral treatments.

“It makes sense that repeat infections would not be beneficial to a person’s health. But I think it’s really hard to know what the additional risk of each subsequent infection would be because there are all sorts of other things in the mix,” says Michael Peluso, MD, an assistant professor of medicine and an infectious diseases doctor at the University of California San Francisco.

Long-COVID clinics are wrestling with how to treat their patients
NPR — November 18, 2022

Can long Covid research unlock other great medical mysteries of our time?
The Guardian — October 17, 2022

Excerpt: While millions of people across the world were already living with post-viral illnesses before the pandemic, a 2021 study published by the American Medical Association found that more than half of Covid patients reported symptoms lasting longer than six months. That means that the pool of potential post-viral illness patients has probably grown many times over during the pandemic. The surge has left scientists scrambling to find answers and unlocking the mysteries of persistent Covid, they say, could translate to further understanding of other post-infectious afflictions as well.

Long COVID is still disabling millions of Americans
Axio — October 6, 2022

Excerpt: Between Sept. 14 and Sept. 26, more than one in four adults with long COVID reported significant limitations on day-to-day activities, per the CDC data. The number jumps closer to 40% for respondents who are Black, Latino or disabled — three groups that shouldered outsized burdens throughout the pandemic. Nearly 30% of adults previously infected with COVID reported having long COVID at some point, but the percentage is higher for transgender people, disabled Americans and those without a high school diploma, according to Wednesday’s report.

Year three of the pandemic is underway: Now what?
Harvard Health Publishing / Harvard Medical School — June 9, 2022

Excerpt: The virus is still very much with us, not behind us. According to the CDC, in the US there are nearly 100,000 new cases (likely an underestimate) and around 300 deaths each day due to COVID as of this writing. Despite this, more and more people are paying less and less attention. That could be a big mistake. With summer travel season here and some dire warnings about fall and winter, it’s worth stepping back, taking a deep breath, and reassessing the situation.

Brain fog: Memory and attention after COVID-19
Harvard Health Publishing / Harvard Medical School — March 17, 2022

Excerpt: People struggling with the effects of long COVID may have noticeable problems with attention, memory, and executive function. Studies report these issues both in people who were not hospitalized with COVID and in those who were, as well as in people who had severe cases. These findings raise some important questions about how COVID-19 infection affects cognition.

A recent study published by a group of German researchers suggests that even people who don’t notice signs of cognitive impairment can have problems with memory and attention after recovering from a mild case of COVID-19.

The Long Haul
UCSF Magazine — Winter 2022

Excerpt: According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), anywhere from 10% to 30% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, experience persistent and potentially incapacitating complications that last far longer than their original illness. With nearly 50 million known COVID cases in the U.S. alone, that may already amount to as many as 14 million people experiencing long-term effects. And the ranks of those with long COVID are still growing, particularly among the unvaccinated, who are thought to be at higher risk for developing long-term symptoms. The result may be its own public health crisis – compounding the original one – with at least some patients unable to live normally for weeks or months after their original illness.

NIH builds large nationwide study population of tens of thousands to support research on long-term effects of COVID-19
National Institutes of Health (NIH) — September 15, 2021

Excerpt: NIH launched the RECOVER Initiative to learn why some people have prolonged symptoms (referred to as long COVID) or develop new or returning symptoms after the acute phase of infection from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The most common symptoms include pain, headaches, fatigue, “brain fog,” shortness of breath, anxiety, depression, fever, chronic cough, and sleep problems.

“We know some people have had their lives completely upended by the major long-term effects of COVID-19,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. “These studies will aim to determine the cause and find much needed answers to prevent this often-debilitating condition and help those who suffer move toward recovery.”

Data from the RECOVER Cohort will include clinical information, laboratory tests, and analyses of participants in various stages of recovery following SARS-CoV-2 infection. With immediate access to data from existing, diverse study populations, it is anticipated researchers will be able to accelerate the timeline for this important research.

We Thought It Was Just a Respiratory Virus
We were wrong.
UCSF Magazine — Summer 2020
This features input from Dr. Michael Peluso, who is on our team.

Excerpt: Viruses lead a curious purgatorial existence of being neither fully alive nor dead. Enveloped in a protein cloak, a virus consists almost entirely of genetic material – DNA or RNA, the blueprints for all of life. But it can’t reproduce on its own. To survive, it must break into a cell and co-opt the cell’s gene-copying machinery. 

The novel coronavirus, an RNA virus named SARS-CoV-2, has become notorious for its skill at breaking and entering human cells. Its tools of choice are the protein spikes protruding from its surface – a feature that distinguishes all coronaviruses.