A study from China assessed the current health of some of the first COVID-19 survivors two years later.
The researchers saw that half of these hospitalized patients are continuing to experience COVID-19 symptoms, or long COVID.
In general, two years later, patients who experienced COVID-19 when vaccines were not available are in poorer health compared to people who did not develop COVID-19.
The digital currency sector has been pummeled this week after cryptocurrency lending company Celsius froze withdrawals and transfers between accounts The 2,469 participants in the study had all been discharged from Jin Yin-tan Hospital between January 7 and May 29, 2020. 1,119 of them chose to continue undergoing hospital evaluations and interviews two years after infection.
“This is surprising, and there aren’t other studies out there yet that can look two years out from acute illness,” Dr. James R. Heath, president and professor at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, WA, who was also not involved in the study, told MNT.
At six months after acute infection, 68% of participants reported symptoms of long COVID, and by two years, that number had dropped to 55%.
However, the study’s authors write that long COVID symptoms at two years were related to decreased quality of life, lower exercise capacity, abnormal mental health, and increased use of healthcare after discharge We already know that long COVID, in its various manifestations, is a major issue, said Dr. Heath, “especially in patients who experienced severe illness, but also in patients that experienced only mild infections… For those patients, the chronic symptoms appear to dissipate more quickly.”
Feeling exhausted already, I got off the bus and headed toward a busy shopping mall, where I met up with my co-workers. We made small talk. Someone asked how I was, and when I said I wasn’t feeling too good, they said, “It had better not be coronavirus!” We all laughed.
The first activity of the day was an escape room. In the reception area, my team chattered around me about the day ahead. I tried to focus, but my head felt shimmy. I remember wondering if the room was too hot or whether I was just nervous.
As a staff member explained how the escape room worked, I felt a wave of heat, nausea, and dizziness hit me. Before I knew what I was doing, I stood up and said I had to go. I didn’t know if I was going to faint or throw up, but I knew I had to get out of there.
I said goodbye and left. Outside, the air was cold, which was a relief. But despite standing out there and waiting for a taxi with no coat on, I didn’t cool down.
At home, I collapsed in bed and watched a movie to take my mind off things. I started feeling a little better, and I thought maybe I’d just had a “funny five minutes.” But then, a couple of days later, I was still exhausted, still feeling sick, and still experiencing headaches, feverish spells, and an upset stomach. It wasn’t long before my partner got the same illness
I caught the bus into the center of town. On all sides, I was surrounded by people using their phones, talking, and listening to music via headphones. Nobody was wearing a mask, and nobody was physically distancing.
The first lockdown hadn’t yet happened, and the only advice that people had received to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus was to wash their hands for 20 seconds each time. Otherwise, life continued as normal
Dr. Heath said that as scientists’ understanding of long COVID rapidly expands, such findings will “almost certainly” lead to treatments.
“However, it is going to take a few years to test those treatments in appropriate double-blind placebo-controlled trials, and there are likely multiple disease etiologies, implying multiple treatments will be needed
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