Long COVID

Long Covid is an infection-associated chronic condition that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.

Long COVID, also known as long-haul COVID or chronic COVID syndrome,[1] is the symptoms of COVID-19 lasting a long time. Not all who are infected by SARS-CoV-2 will get long COVID.

About 6 percent of those who get COVID-19 get long COVID. It is defined by the World Health Organization as symptoms happening three months after initial infection. The symptoms then have to last for two months. Some people with long COVID were not very ill when they first got it. Symptoms may be like myalgic encephalomyelitis. This is known as chronic fatigue syndrome.[2] Some bodies will never clear the virus. Some researchers think this is an autoimmune disease.[3]

There are many symptoms that sometimes disappear and then reappear. Commonly reported symptoms of long COVID are fatigue, memory problems, shortness of breath, and sleep disorder.[4][5] Several other symptoms, including headaches, mental health issues, loss of smell or taste, muscle weakness, fever, and cognitive dysfunction may also happen.[4] Symptoms often get worse after mental or physical work. This is called post-exertional malaise.[4]

List of symptoms

change

Symptoms reported by people with long COVID include:[6][7][8][9][10][11]

change

References

change
  1. Baig AM (October 2020). "Chronic COVID Syndrome: Need for an appropriate medical terminology for Long-COVID and COVID Long-Haulers". Journal of Medical Virology. 93 (5): 2555–2556. doi:10.1002/jmv.26624. PMID 33095459.
  2. Carter, Rachel (2023-01-02). "2022 in review: Will long Covid help us understand the unexplainable?". Pulse Today. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  3. "Scientists grapple with long Covid puzzle as millions fall sick". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Long COVID or post-COVID conditions". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Health and Human Services. 20 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  5. Chen C, Haupert SR, Zimmermann L, Shi X, Fritsche LG, Mukherjee B (November 2022). "Global Prevalence of Post-Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Condition or Long COVID: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review". The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 226 (9): 1593–1607. doi:10.1093/infdis/jiac136. PMC 9047189. PMID 35429399.
  6. "COVID-19 (coronavirus): Long-term effects". Mayo Clinic. 18 August 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  7. "What are the long-term health risks following COVID-19?". NewsGP. Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP). 24 June 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  8. Yelin D, Wirtheim E, Vetter P, Kalil AC, Bruchfeld J, Runold M, et al. (October 2020). "Long-term consequences of COVID-19: research needs". The Lancet. Infectious Diseases. 20 (10): 1115–1117. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30701-5. PMC 7462626. PMID 32888409.
  9. "Chinese study finds most patients show signs of 'long Covid' six months on". South China Morning Post. 10 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  10. Yan, W. Their Teeth Fell Out. Was It Another Covid-19 Consequence? The New York Times (2020). https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/health/covid-teeth-falling-out.html
  11. Al-Aly, Ziyad; Xie, Yan; Bowe, Benjamin (22 April 2021). "High-dimensional characterization of post-acute sequalae of COVID-19". Nature. 594 (7862): 259–264. Bibcode:2021Natur.594..259A. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03553-9. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 33887749.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Brewer, Kirstie (28 January 2021). "Parosmia: 'Since I had Covid, food makes me want to vomit'". BBC News. Retrieved 29 January 2021.