May 3, 2024

New Study Suggests That Long COVID May Affect Millions More People Than Previously Thought

The small research study included 29 individuals with post-viral syndrome including neurologic symptoms such as problems with memory and thinking abilities, headache, and fatigue but who did not have a favorable COVID test result. They were matched with 32 individuals of similar age with long COVID and positive test results. Both groups were likewise compared to 18 individuals with none of those signs and no known direct exposure to COVID or favorable test outcomes.
Scientist tested the individuals for antibodies to 2 types of proteins that reveal an immune reaction that suggests a prior COVID infection– nucleocapsid protein and spike protein. Of the 29 individuals with post-viral syndrome, 12 people, or 41%, had immune reactions consistent with prior direct exposure to COVID and comparable to the long COVID group. Three-quarters had responses against the nucleocapsid protein and one-half had actions against the spike protein.
That group likewise had comparable signs to the long COVID group and similar results on tests of thinking abilities.
” Unlike our clinic, about 70% of post-COVID centers in the U.S. do decline people with long COVID signs who do not have a favorable test result for COVID,” Koralnik stated. “Our information suggest that a minimum of 4 million individuals with post-viral syndrome similar to long COVID may certainly have detectable immune responses to support a COVID diagnosis. More research study is needed to verify our findings.”
A constraint of the research study is the small number of people with post-viral syndrome. Also, some of the individuals may have checked positive for COVID-19 immune actions if their blood samples were gathered closer to when their symptoms began.
Reference: “SARS-CoV-2– Specific Immune Responses in Patients With Postviral Syndrome After Suspected COVID-19″ by Zachary S. Orban, Lavanya Visvabharathy, Gina S. Perez Giraldo, Millenia Jimenez and Igor J. Koralnik, 23 August 2023, Neurology: Neuroimmunology & & Neuroinflammation.DOI: 10.1212/ NXI.0000000000200159.

The small study involved 29 individuals with post-viral syndrome including neurologic signs such as problems with memory and believing abilities, headache, and tiredness but who did not have a favorable COVID test result. Of the 29 people with post-viral syndrome, 12 people, or 41%, had immune actions constant with previous exposure to COVID and similar to the long COVID group.” Unlike our clinic, about 70% of post-COVID centers in the U.S. do not accept individuals with long COVID symptoms who do not have a positive test result for COVID,” Koralnik said. “Our information recommend that at least 4 million individuals with post-viral syndrome comparable to long COVID might indeed have noticeable immune responses to support a COVID diagnosis.

Early in the pandemic, countless Americans who revealed long COVID-like signs werent detected due to evaluating restrictions. A current research study found that 41% of these individuals had an immune reaction consistent with SARS-CoV-2 exposure, suggesting they might have had COVID-19.
Throughout the preliminary phases of the pandemic, many Americans entered into contact with SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19. Due to restrictions in testing, many were not diagnosed. A substantial number of these people subsequently showed signs similar to long COVID, a condition characterized by signs lasting beyond 6 weeks.
A current study of a small group of those people revealed that 41% had indicators of exposure to SARS-CoV-2. These findings were just recently released in Neurology Neuroimmunology & & Neuroinflammation, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
” Since a lot of long COVID centers are just accepting patients with a favorable test result, these individuals experiencing similar symptoms are left without specialized care and excluded from research study studies on long COVID,” stated research study author Igor J. Koralnik, MD, of Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive COVID-19 Center in Chicago and a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. “Our information suggest that countless Americans with post-viral syndrome may have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 at the start of the pandemic, and they are worthy of the exact same access to care and addition in research study studies as people with a confirmed COVID medical diagnosis.”