Gema Lledó Ibáñez, from the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Unit of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona.
“Before confirming the persistent covidwe have to verify that there was Covid-19 and the cellular response can help us to do so”. Gema Lledó Ibáñez, from the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Unit of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, has been so forceful when talking about this condition. The professional has reflected on the XII Conference on Infectious Diseases, organized by the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI), on the uncertainties surrounding these later symptoms infection and has explained what is found in his practice.
“After overcome the infection we find ourselves with another challenge, we have patients who after the coronavirus have symptoms that prevent them from develop your work skills and even their daily life”, has specified Lledó. It must be remembered that since the pandemic began there has been 614 million cases diagnosed in the world and 6 million deaths.
In this sense, he has admitted that since the summer of 2020 they began to detect these first cases of longcovid it has been a path of knowledge due to the “heterogeneity” of the groups of patients with these symptoms, since the “same clinical scenario” was not discussed. The World Health Organization (WHO) had to arrive in October 2021 to specify that the post-covid condition is one that is maintained during the last two months (after three months of the initial infection) and without justified cause.
However, Lledó makes a nuance to this definition. According to the WHO, this diagnosis can be accepted if there is suspicion that there was an infection, but for her this is not the case. “Some symptoms like fatigue can be justified by other causes and to attribute persistent covid to patients it is necessary to demonstrate that they have passed it, that is, confirm that there has been covid-19not just suspect it. This can be determined with the antibodies and with the cellular response“, he has affirmed. In fact, he has defended doing it with this last option because it is “more durable and also detects those who did not develop antibodies”.
Persistent covid risk factors
Likewise, the expert has exposed various studies where the risk factor’s that increase the chances of developing this condition, among which is the older age and comorbidities. On the other hand, he has also ensured that they are seeing each other immune-mediated phenomena in Covid-19 and in post covid condition. She herself, in her consultation, has diagnosed 75 autoimmune diseases in patients with persistent covid they have had their debut at that time.
In this search for the origin of longcovid, Lledó has ensured that the dysautonomia has a lot to do with it. “Much of the post covid symptoms dysautonomia justifies them. For example: fatigue, low-grade fever, headaches, floor disturbances, palpitations, etc”, he specified, while adding that diagnosing it would be good news because “autoimmune dysautonomia could have a therapeutic target“.
Regarding the treatment of this condition, one of the first recommendations for prevention is vaccination, according to Lledó. Once this condition has been detected, his firm commitment is for rehabilitation so as not to “get worse”.
To close this twelfth day, Antonio Ramos Martinezcoordinator of the FEMI Infectious Diseases Working Group, thanked the “enthusiasm of the attendees for learning” and “the desire to generate knowledge by the speakers”. “From Internal Medicine we are aware of what we do not know on infectious diseases and it is a challenge for us to be up to date of new drugs and developments”, he concluded.
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