Long COVID: Unraveling the Secret

CHICAGO, Ill. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Extreme fatigue, memory problems, dizziness and shortness of breath are just some of the 200 symptoms associated with long COVID, which is when COVID symptoms last longer than three months.

There are no FDA-approved or even widely accepted treatments for long COVID. But now researchers are trying to get to the bottom of the problem in hopes of helping the patients who suffer the longest.

Four years after we donned masks, isolated and vaccinated, researchers are still looking for answers about why some people can get rid of the symptoms but others can’t.

“We still have very few answers to what causes long COVID and persistent symptoms in most people,” explained Dr. Marc Sala, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Northwestern Medicine.

The CDC reports that nearly one in five Americans who have had COVID-19 are still dealing with long COVID. But interestingly, older adults are less likely to get long COVID. Almost three times as many adults aged 50 to 59 are currently suffering from Long COVID than those over 80.

Sala’s research focuses on figuring out what’s happening.

“What they all had in common was that a lot of them had these CT scans that showed their lungs had some inflammation and some scarring,” Sala explained.

Using advanced gene expression technology and CT scans, Sala found that harmful immune cells continued to invade the lungs and cause inflammation.

“Even three months, six months, nine months or up to a year, we had individuals with sustained migration of inflammatory cells,” he said.

Sala believes this research will not only lead to new treatments for long COVID, but will also help people with other lung problems.

“The next step in our research is to figure out how we can stop the influx of these particular cells that we know are associated with fibrosis and try to help that situation, whether it’s post-COVID, post-flu or other illnesses,” he said.

Interestingly, the CDC also reports that the percentage of adults with current Long Covid symptoms varies by state. Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee and South Dakota have the highest rates, while Hawaii, Maryland and Virginia have the lowest.

Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, producer; Matt Goldschmidt, videographer; Roque Correa, editor.

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