There may be some good news on the puzzling Long Covid front. Based on recent research, scientists believe that post-acute sequelae, PASC or Long Covid in the vernacular, may be caused when SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid – remains in the body.
Noting that the diagnosis of post-acute sequelae of Covid-19 poses an ongoing medical challenge, the researchers looked for biomarkers in plasma in PASC and Covid-19 patients. They found that the SARS-CoV-2 spike was present for up to 12 months after the diagnosis. It was found in none of the control group.
One year after the original infection, some patients continued to have levels of viral spike protein that were as high as they did earlier in their illness, the study showed. The high levels suggest that there exists a reservoir of the virus that continues to produce the spike protein, because the spike protein, with a relatively short lifespan, wouldn’t otherwise be present in laboratory tests.
The research was published last week in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases and was led by scientists at Harvard and MIT.
Another roadblock is that the term Long Covid describes three unique conditions or symptom clusters. A study from King’s College in London found that the three are:
1.) Neurological symptoms – the most commonly reported long symptoms – include severe fatigue, depression, an inability to concentrate, brain fog, a decrease in the sense of smell or anosmia, and delirium.
2.) Respiratory symptoms that could involve damage to the lungs and include severe shortness of breath, palpitations, fatigue, and chest pain.
3.) Systemic/inflammatory and abdominal symptoms include musculoskeletal pain, anemia, myalgias, gastrointestinal disorders, malaise, and fatigue.
Still, further research will be required on viral persistence in order to get to the root cause of Long Covid. As a Long Covid patient myself who is undertaking his own clinical study of one to see what will mitigate some of the worst symptoms I have, such as severe chronic fatigue, I can’t wait to hear more on the topic.
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