Long COVID can happen irrespective of the severity of the COVID infection
COVID is a headache; long COVID is a mystery. This patient-coined term is still under research investigation. There is no concrete explanation on why long COVID occurs.
Post-COVID, COVID sequelae, long-haul COVID are the several closely associated terms used by patients, health experts and health agencies to describe the long COVID situation.
After two years of tussle with COVID and its post-infection conditions, here are few important points that people should know about long COVID condition:
Long COVID is not associated with the severity of initial COVID infection
Long COVID can happen to anyone irrespective of the severity in the COVID infection. Even if someone had mild COVID symptoms, they can have moderate long COVID symptoms.
"There does not appear to be a relationship between the initial severity of COVID-19 infection and the likelihood of developing post COVID-19 condition," says the WHO.
There are three types of long COVID
As per a report carried by the American Medical Association (AMA), long COVID can be broken down into three categories.
"With COVID itself you see a variety of symptoms—a 30-year-old dying or a 70-year-old essentially being unscathed and asymptomatic," says AMA member Devang Sanghavi, MD.
Dr Sanghavi states three different types of long COVID in the AMA report. The first category of long COVID is for those who do not recover completely and have ongoing symptoms because of direct cell damage from the virus. The second category of long COVID is when a person’s symptoms are related to chronic hospitalization and in the third category the symptoms appear after recovery.
Read: Walking for health? Common mistakes people make and the right way to do it
Long COVID needs medical attention
Long COVID does not come and leave on its own. It is a condition in which the body experiences COVID symptoms even months after the infection. Depending on the symptoms and the degree at which it affects an individual, experts suggest long COVID should be brought to a doctor's attention.
There is no specific set of organs which can be affected by long COVID
Long COVID does not spare any organ, says Dr Sanghavi from AMA. "“Symptoms of long COVID are like COVID-19 itself, because it affects all organ systems," he says.
There are several ways one can experience long COVID. While some will have cognitive issues, some others will have impaired sense of smell and taste. Insomnia, fatigue, body pain, brain fog, chest pain, depression, fever, difficulty in breathing and persistent cough are some of the symptoms of long COVID.
Long COVID can affect kids too
There are a number of cases of children suffering from long COVID. Kids were the last of the population to be vaccinated against COVID. Currently in India, only those above 12 years of age are being vaccinated. Moreover, the COVID symptoms seen in kids are somewhat similar to that of the COVID symptoms seen in adults.
“The key difference between long COVID in adults and children is that the symptoms may be similar, but the number of patients affected is lower in kids,” says Dr. Sanghavi in the AMA report.
Women are more likely to be affected by long COVID
As per research studies and health data, the occurrence of long COVID is more seen in middle aged females than males. As per a research, a study conducted at San Paolo Hospital in Milan, Italy found that among the various factors that had a high risk of developing long COVID one of the prominent was female gender. A total of 377 patients were enrolled in the study.
Another study published in the Journal of Women's Health, found that in long COVID women were statistically significantly more likely to experience difficulty swallowing, fatigue, chest pain, and palpitations at long-term follow-up compared to men.
Start a Conversation
Post comment