Explained: What is ‘long COVID’ — how is vaccination expected to affect such patients?
Recovery from COVID19 can be exceptionally delayed in many patients. Some cases even take months to heal completely. A new study explains the link between vaccination and the phenomenon commonly referred to as ‘long COVID’.
One of the biggest challenges in treating the patients of COVID19 is the versatility of its symptoms and the organs affected by its infection.
Since the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, its symptoms and duration have not been consistent and they vary depending on factors like the mutation of the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) virus, which causes COVID, and the immune response of the patient to the viral invasion.
Generally, apart from the specific post-COVID complications such as black fungus (mucormycosis), some patients also manifest symptoms of COVID19 for a longer period. Symptoms include breathlessness, upset stomach, urine infections, and a general weakness among others.
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Patients experiencing these symptoms cannot infect others as it is a post-COVID complication and by the time a person falls in the category of ‘Long COVID’, she/he is devoid of COVID19 virus in their system.
What is ‘long COVID’?
One of the biggest challenges in treating the patients of COVID19 is the versatility of its symptoms and the organs affected by its infection.
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The term ‘Long COVID’ (long-term effects of COVID) is used to denote a set of medical conditions that continue to linger for weeks, even months after a previously infected person tests negative for COVID19 infection.
According to the US CDC (Centers for Disease Control And Prevention): “Long COVID is a range of symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 or can appear weeks after infection. Long COVID can happen to anyone who has had COVID-19, even if the illness was mild, or they had no symptoms.”
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Symptoms of long COVID
According to US CDC, people with long COVID report experiencing different combinations of the following symptoms:
- Tiredness or fatigue
- Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as “brain fog”)
- Headache
- Loss of smell or taste
- Dizziness on standing
- Fast-beating or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations)
- Chest pain
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Cough
- Joint or muscle pain
- Depression or anxiety
- Fever
- Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities
These variety of symptoms manifest because apart from the respiratory system, which suffers the first brunt of the COVID19 infection, organs from various other systems such as the digestive system get affected and take a longer time to heal.
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Can vaccination lessen the chances/intensity of ‘long COVID’?
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), a US-based non-profit medical research organisation, has launched a study to examine how COVID-19 vaccination affects people with long COVID.
As per HHMI Investigator Akiko Iwasaki, some people with lingering COVID-19 symptoms have been reporting that vaccination seemed to have improved their condition.
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The study is inspired by a survey of 931 ‘long COVID’ patients which were surveyed by Survivor Corps, American organisation working which aims at counselling the survivors of COVID19.
The survey found that 42 per cent of the patients reported improvements post-vaccination, 14 per cent felt worse and the remaining 44 per cent didn’t notice a difference before and after vaccination.
“Evidence from the community has been accumulating that the vaccines might be doing something,” Iwasaki was quoted as saying in the HHMI article.
“The vaccine could, for example, temporarily trick the immune system, diverting rogue immune cells away from attacking the body. It’s also possible that the vaccine ramps up production of antibodies or immune cells that root out any lingering virus. That would be amazing – a permanent cure,” Iwasaki added.
Meanwhile, as per the US CDC, “although media articles have reported that some people with long COVID say their symptoms improved after being vaccinated, studies are needed to determine the effects of vaccination on post-COVID conditions.”