We’re finally learning more about long Covid
But for millions of people who contracted the virus even in the pandemic’s first months, the impact of the disease lingers.
As many as one in five adults who recovered from a Covid-19 infection have experienced at least one medical condition relating to long Covid, according to a study published Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
That figure jumps to one in four in people aged 65 and older. The most common conditions among all adults were respiratory symptoms and musculoskeletal pain, the researchers found. Covid patients were also twice as likely as other people to have conditions affecting the lungs.
Despite the vast scientific attention paid to understanding Covid-19 and developing vaccines and treatments, health experts are still learning about long Covid — one of the pandemic’s most unusual and detrimental phenomena.
CDC researchers analyzed medical records for more than 350,000 people who tested positive between March 2020 and November 2021, so their new study provides a valuable clue to understanding the prevalence of the condition.
Another development came from a Scottish study, published on Monday, which found that more severe cases of Covid-19 can cause long-term damage to a range of organs.
Heart inflammation was found to be an ongoing problem for one in eight patients who were hospitalized with Covid-19, according to the study, which followed the progress of 159 people for a year after their hospital stay.
Inflammation across the body and damage to the kidneys were also common. And the study supported other research that indicated women are more at risk of suffering from long Covid than men.
Earlier research suggests that a small portion of people who now live with long Covid may have shown no Covid-19 symptoms at all when they were initially infected — or have had mild or unusual symptoms.
But the one thing that is certain is that long Covid is unpredictable and, even this deep into the pandemic, it remains something of a scientific enigma.
YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED.
Q: Will there ever be a longer-lasting Covid-19 vaccine?
A: Currently, vaccine immunity fades after a few months, with scientists working around the clock to devise new versions to fight the waves of mutations.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN that “some vaccine platforms give a very high degree of protection but the durability isn’t very long,” because of…
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