Understanding Long-Covid and Post-Covid: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment Options
2023-04-26 12:41:04
A viral infection or a disease are two different things. Some infections don’t make you ill at all, others last for a few days or weeks, and then everything is over. And in some cases, people don’t get back on their feet months or years after exposure to a virus. After being infected with Sars-Cov-2, some people are sick for up to twelve weeks (LongCovid) or even for many months (PostCovid). According to a recent elevation In Great Britain, 1.9 million people are currently affected, i.e. 2.9 percent of the population. For almost half, the story of suffering began more than two years ago, i.e. before the vaccinations and the omicron variant; with in which sank that Risk of long-term consequences.
A bunch of symptoms
As different as the symptoms of long and post-Covid are, they are probably just as different causes. Severe courses of the disease with prolonged bed confinement often result in a long recovery phase necessary. Lung damage is also obvious, because the infection takes place in the respiratory tract and causes the most damage there (especially through the reaction of the immune system to the virus).
Emanuel Wyler researches at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin-Buch. One of his main research areas is corona infection.
However, a large proportion of those who are ill suffer from symptoms that are not directly associated with a respiratory virus, especially after a mild acute illness. Chronic fatigue, known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), is common. Symptoms include circulatory disorders, especially under stressas well as concentration and word-finding disorders or muscle weakness.
In a USStudy from 1999, it was diagnosed in 0.42 percent of the adult population – sometimes so severe that an active life is no longer possible. Because the symptoms in ME/CFS and at least some of the post-Covid cases are comparable, it is currently believed that causes and treatment options are similar are.
Four possible causes are differentiated for LongCovid/Postcovid.
One ongoing inflammatory responsean “alert state” that is important during infection but is harmful to the body over time.
an ongoing one whereabouts of the virus in any form in the bodywhich, like the first point, is about ongoing activation of the immune system contributes.
antibodywhich the immune system produces as a result of the infection and which are directed against the body’s own organs. It doesn’t have to be, but it can cause damage.
As a result of the coronavirus infection, Reactivation of “dormant” herpes viruses in the body, particularly the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). This in turn can trigger “glandular fever”, with symptoms that often last for months.
All this leads to – in principle – biologically measurable changes in humans. The influence of psychosocial aspects, the interactions between the sick body, psyche and social environment is also discussed. Accordingly, when investigating the causes, the question arises as to what can actually be determined in the laboratory. It is clear that accompanying psychotherapy can be helpful, especially in the case of chronic diseases, in order to be able to deal with it and its effects better – which in turn has a positive effect on the course of the disease can. Accordingly, psychological examinations are an integral part of the Greifswalder PoCoRe Study for post-Covid therapy.
The search for drugs is still in its infancy. One difficulty is that different causes need different treatments – and those causes would need to be identified in each individual case. This requires diagnostics that have yet to be developed. Nevertheless, now about drugs testedthat suppress the immune system or stop remaining virus. Even if very intensive work and research is being carried out worldwide, it may still be many months or years before reliable therapies are available.
Not every therapy is right for everyone
Nevertheless, there are always reports of successful treatments – when assessing them, it depends on how many people were treated and whether there was a control group. And given the various possible causes of Long-Covid/Post-Covid, what works for one group of cases may not make sense for others.
That sounds sobering. Nevertheless, in many places, such as the Charité Berlin, there are specialized long-Covid/post-Covid consultation hours in which victims are tried to be helped. And worldwide, including Germany, there are hundreds of research projectsto find out causes and therapies – and to solve this major health problem.