The answer to long Covid
KOCHI: Known by different names like post covid, long covid, long haulers etc, the ghost of the Covid virus continues to haunt those who have been affected by the pandemic. These names originate due to the long-standing aftereffects of the virus. Should we be bothered about the infection alone or also about the things that may ensue after the active phase of the infection? Is there any statistics available for post covid or long covid? The best estimate is that at least 10% of all current covid cases are long haulers. For some, the symptoms linger around for a few days to months but for others, it may extend for months or even years.
The symptoms
The phenomenon of residual symptoms is seen in many viral infections like influenza, Ebola, chikungunya, dengue etc. If we take a deep dive into this topic to assuage our fears, there will be a humbling realisation that it’s not even unique to viral infections. Infections like chronic Lyme disease and chronic fatigue syndrome can be associated with non-viral causes, although it’s seen more as a post-viral syndrome.
Symptoms that trouble the most are usually brain fog, short-term memory retention issues, joint pain, muscle pain, insomnia, anxiety, loss of taste and smell, even long-term fever. Hundreds of such symptoms have been reported. The biggest challenge for the patients is convincing their doctors or their employers regarding these symptoms. Often they feel these are overlooked and that adds to the frustration and helplessness.
The Reason
We can deduce four mechanisms or reasons for the long haulers from previous experiences with other infections. The first theory is that the virus or parts of the virus remains somewhere in our body tissue (known as a viral reservoir) against which our immune system acts. A second possible mechanism is the recrudescence of other dormant viruses in our body like herpes virus or chikungunya virus etc during an active covid infection.
The third possibility is molecular mimicry where a virus produces proteins that resemble human proteins tricking our immune system to turn against our body similar to autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and others.
In these cases, our immune system attacks our own body cells and tissues. And finally, there could also be extensive damages to the body that ensued from Covid infection like lung fibrosis, blood clots and many related injuries. It could also be a combination of all these mechanisms and on which the scientific community is continuing their research.
Do vaccines help?
The short answer is yes. Studies reveal that, although it’s nowhere near conclusive, a larger number of patients with long Covid symptoms felt better after vaccination.
There were also smaller proportions of people that reported worsening of these symptoms after vaccination. Some recent studies suggest that breakthrough infections are less likely to lead to long-Covid in vaccinated people.
HOW TO HELP
Something that everyone needs to understand is that Covid is relatively the youngest disease in the world. How it can impact us in the long term is still being researched. Doctors don’t have answers to all the post-Covid issues but the best we can do is believing if someone complains of long covid symptoms. Being compassionate and humane is the right thing to do in this hard time.