A long Covid is identified if persistent symptoms or new symptoms appearing more than four weeks after the initial infection. We are talking here about fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of smell, loss of taste or even difficulty concentrating.
According to Public Health France, “ 30% of people who have had a SARS-CoV-2 infection present or have presented the criteria for a long Covid “. This is why some people, suffering from these continuous effects, worry that the symptoms will not go away.
Symptoms present for several months, but not more than a year
It was to get to the bottom of it that an Israeli team* compared the data of 2 million people, either never having been infected with Covid-19, or having been affected by a mild to moderate form with persistent symptoms, meaning they had developed lasting signs but did not seek hospital care.
They also looked at information about persistent symptoms after infection in vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
They thus discovered that the symptoms of a long Covid “ remained for several months but almost always disappeared within a year. Other information, persistent respiratory problems were found to be more frequent in unvaccinated people.
« Although the long Covid phenomenon is feared, we observed that the situation returned to normal – for mild to moderate forms – during the first year “, explain the authors. ” VSwhich suggests that there is no risk of long-term chronicization of the disease. »
* KI Research Institute, Israel.