Category: Long Covid
WHO: The #coronavirus pandemic has caused mass trauma on a larger scale than World War II
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused mass trauma on a larger scale than World War II, and the impact will last “for many years to come,” the World Health Organization’s top official said Friday.
“After the Second World War, the world has experienced mass trauma, because Second World War affected many, many lives. And now, even with this Covid pandemic, with bigger magnitude, more lives have been affected,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference Friday. “Almost the whole world is affected, each and every individual on the surface of the world actually has been affected.”
“And that means mass trauma, which is beyond proportion, even bigger than what the world experienced after the Second World War,” he added, noting the effect on mental health. “And when there is mass trauma, it affects communities for many years to come.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/who-says-pandemic-has-caused-more-mass-trauma-than-wwii-and-will-last-for-years.html
WHO Investigators scrap plans for interim report on probe of #coronavirus origins
WSJ: “The World Health Organization team investigating the origins of Covid-19 is planning to scrap an interim report on its recent mission to China amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington over the investigation and an appeal from one international group of scientists for a new probe. A group of two dozen scientists is calling in an open letter on Thursday for a new international inquiry. They say the WHO team that last month completed a mission to Wuhan—the Chinese city where the first known cases were found—had insufficient access to adequately investigate possible sources of the new coronavirus, including whether it slipped from a laboratory.”
Open Letter Link “Call for a Full and Unrestricted International Forensic Investigation into the Origins of COVID-19”
Nearly half of all mild #coronavirus cases have long-covid symptoms 6 months later
Almost half of all people with mild coronavirus cases still have at least one symptom six months after recovering, a new Israeli study found.
Moreover, in some cases, these symptoms either weren’t present initially or disappeared and then came back.
Among the 46 percent of patients who reported persistent symptoms, the most common was fatigue, followed by an altered sense of smell and taste, and then breathing problems. #longcovid
Clinicalmicrobiologyandinfection.com study paper
Image by agnesliinnea from Pixabay
F-FDG brain PET hypometabolism in patients with long COVID #longcovid
These metabolic clusters were highly discriminant to distinguish [long covid] patients and healthy subjects (100% correct classification).
In comparison to healthy subjects, patients with long COVID exhibited bilateral hypometabolism in the bilateral rectal/orbital gyrus, including the olfactory gyrus; the right temporal lobe, including the amygdala and the hippocampus, extending to the right thalamus; the bilateral pons/medulla brainstem; the bilateral cerebellum (p-voxel < 0.001 uncorrected, p-cluster < 0.05 FWE-corrected). These metabolic clusters were highly discriminant to distinguish patients and healthy subjects (100% correct classification).
Nine months in the long limbo of long #covid – Ed Rooksby
“I’m pretty sure I know where and when I was infected and indeed who passed it on to me. In late March, a day or two before the first lockdown came into effect I walked into York city centre with a bravado that turned out to be hubris…
While queueing in Boots I noticed, too late, that the cashier had a nasty cough. I was too embarrassed to leave the line before it was my turn to be served, and I remember thinking ‘you fucking moron’, not sure whether I was directing the insult at her or at myself. Both I suppose. She must have known this was a symptom of covid and, for that matter, her store manager must have known it too – she should have been told to self-isolate and supported on full pay. I can’t be 100% sure I got the virus from her, but it seems highly likely.
Sometimes I wonder if the elderly woman who was behind me in the queue is still alive.”
Ed Rooksby, a brilliant man who has just died, was 45, fit and healthy.
On the eve of the first lockdown, he contracted the virus, then developed Long COVID.
He wrote about the horrors of Long COVID weeks before he died. We should all read it.https://t.co/S8NonUz7zu
— Owen Jones 🌹 (@OwenJones84) February 15, 2021
18,296 #COVID19 patients in Israel’s schools
The number of school children infected with COVID-19 across the country [Israel] on Monday [15th February 2021] evening stands at 16,643.
In addition, 1,653 education workers are infected with the novel coronavirus as well, bringing the total to 18,296.
Image by Наталия Когут from Pixabay
Long Covid: ‘It is heartbreaking to watch your child suffer’
Long-COVID strikes between 10% and 30% of children, many who had mild cases of the virus.
Israeli health experts had seemed sure that children were not at risk from coronavirus during the first and second waves of the pandemic, but have since revised that assessment.
On Monday, Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba reported that two children, ages eight and 14, were hospitalized with post-coronavirus symptoms. They had fallen ill a month ago, the hospital reported, and now suffer from “a complex disease that includes multi-system failure.”
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash
Women are twice as likely to develop Long Covid compared to men, but only up to about 60yrs old
Long COVID also seems to affect younger patients as demonstrated by the study conducted at the A. Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome on a cohort of 129 children with microbiologically confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19. 27.1% had at least one symptom more than 120 days later from the first diagnosis and 20.6% had three or more symptoms. The more problems common were muscle and/or joint pain, headache, or chest pain sensation of chest tightness, palpitations and sleep disturbances.
Currently there are few data, divided by sex, on the incidence of Long COVID and only on the adult population. In general, women seem to have twice as likely to develop Long COVID, compared to men, but only until around 60, when the risk level becomes similar. In addition to being a woman, older age and a higher body mass index also appear to be risk factors for having Long COVID.
https://www.epicentro.iss.it/coronavirus/sars-cov-2-differenze-genere-long-covid
Image by silviarita from Pixabay
Cases of Long Covid could be as high as 20% in the UK, immunologist warns
The number of patients reporting symptoms of Covid-19 weeks after becoming ill could be as high as 20%, an immunologist said, as he warned it could place an additional burden on the NHS.
Professor Danny Altmann, from Imperial College London, said a figure of one in 20 people suffering long Covid, reported in October by King’s College London, is lower than what is now being reported.
“Many people would have 10-20% as their range if you look at the papers on how many people are still reporting significant symptoms several months afterwards,” he told Times Radio.
Image by unknownuserpanama from Pixabay
‘A 6-Year-Old In A 90-Year-Old’s Body’ – The Children Devastated By Long Covid
“He’s like a six-year-old in a 90-year-old’s body,” says Chris Ward of his son Thomas, who first fell ill last February with a fever, breathlessness and aches all over his body.
Thomas was assessed at A&E where the family was asked if they’d been to Italy – they hadn’t. They were sent home with instructions that it was a viral infection and Thomas, then five, needed to rest.
Flash forward almost a year and Thomas is still suffering – tests have since revealed he has Covid-19 antibodies. Every two or three weeks, his temperature soars. His glands are constantly enlarged and his body aches most days. Ward recently caught him walking up the stairs like a crab because of the pain.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Tens of thousands of young, healthy people destroyed by #coronavirus long-covid
The Dutch KNGF physiotherapists’ association estimates, based on research among its members, that at least 28,000 ex-covid patients are currently undergoing treatment for convalescence care. More than half of them (54 percent) are younger than 55 years .
Jako Burgers of the Dutch College of General Practitioners also thinks it concerns tens of thousands of people. “In my practice I have ten people with such a long aftermath. There are five thousand GP practices, suppose they all have eight. Then you’re on forty thousand people . I think that is a realistic estimate, which is also supported by international research. ”
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
#Coronavirus attacks the brain and triggers severe #Covid19 disease in mice
“Our thinking that [Covid-19] is more of a respiratory disease is not necessarily true,” Kumar said. “Once it infects the brain it can affect anything because the brain is controlling your lungs, the heart, everything. The brain is a very sensitive organ. It’s the central processor for everything.”
Georgia State University biology researchers have found that infecting the nasal passages of mice with the virus that causes COVID-19 led to a rapid, escalating attack on the brain that triggered severe illness, even after the lungs were successfully clearing themselves of the virus.
Assistant professor Mukesh Kumar, the study’s lead researcher, said the findings have implications for understanding the wide range in symptoms and severity of illness among humans who are infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“Our thinking that it’s more of a respiratory disease is not necessarily true,” Kumar said. “Once it infects the brain it can affect anything because the brain is controlling your lungs, the heart, everything. The brain is a very sensitive organ. It’s the central processor for everything.”
Georgia State University news report is here
Image by Tibor Janosi Mozes from Pixabay