News from the USA, United States of America

New York Times: 'A Clearer Picture of Covid’s Lasting Effects on the Body'

'Five years on, scientists are starting to understand how the virus can lead to long-term, sometimes invisible changes'

'Some of these effects, such as chronic fatigue and brain fog, are considered long Covid, defined as symptoms from an infection that persist for at least three months.'

'Scientists are still working to identify all the factors that contribute to lasting neurological issues after Covid. But one culprit seems clear: persistent inflammation, which damages neurons and inhibits the creation of key connections between synapses. All of this may cause symptoms like those described above.'

'It’s not clear why these circulatory problems happen, but scientists hypothesize that in some patients, inflammation harms certain nerve fibers outside the brain and spinal cord that regulate the squeezing ability of blood vessels. This could result in impaired blood flow, said Dr. David Systrom, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.'

'In some patients with long Covid, it also appears that the muscles are less able to extract oxygen from the blood than normal, hampering their ability to keep up with exercise, Dr. Systrom said. In addition, the mitochondria — the energy-producing powerhouses of cells — may not work properly or at full capacity, delivering another hit to muscle tissue.'
 
Science News: '5 years after COVID-19 became a pandemic, are we ready for what’s next?'

Al-Aly: 'There are now more than 20 million Americans living with long COVID..it can be severely disabling, to the point of people being in bed and losing their jobs.'

'Unfortunately, we haven’t really cracked the code for treating long COVID. There are still no established treatments approved by the FDA.

'Scientists across the globe dropped everything they were doing and said, “Okay, we’re going to focus on long COVID.” There’s no other condition that, within the span of five years, we have this many academic publications — about 40,000 and counting.

'Then, really the patient community that led the way. Patients with long COVID helped us understand that long COVID is happening, alerted the medical community and guided us in every step of the way in understanding long COVID.'
 
Aspen Daily News: 'For some, the pandemic never ended'

'Vega Brhely, a 45-year-old cyclist...struggled with extreme fatigue, a spiking heart rate, nervous system dysregulation and brain fog. Yet her bloodwork came back “normal"....'

'They speak of a brain fog that robbed them of their vocabulary — like looking in the refrigerator, staring at a head of lettuce, and not knowing what it’s called — and of a “numbing and debilitating” fatigue that can leave them bedridden for days, an exhaustion so all-consuming that even a sip of water seems out of reach.'

“I don’t know who I am — I don’t know if it’s worth going on,” she thought, and called a friend just so she could have someone to talk to. “They said, ‘Good vibes only,’ and hung up on me.”

Long COVID is common — “extremely common,” according to Dr. Todd Davenport, a professor and chair of the physical therapy program at the University of the Pacific and chair of the international advocacy organization Long COVID Physio.

In fact, like many infection-associated chronic conditions that Davenport studies, it’s “probably the most common thing you (have) never heard of.”
 
PBS: “The COVID pandemic’s lingering physical and mental toll, five years later”

(~8 min segment)

Aubrey Nagle, Philadelphia: "Once I did get infected, I pretty quickly, within 6 weeks or so, I noticed drastic changes in my health - eventually we did determine it was Long COVID"

Mei'lani Eyre, Seattle: "Long COVID has taken a lot from me. I've seen my mobility, is crazy limited. I've also seen my cognitive ability is limited."

Steph Fowler, Chicago: "I feel like I'm living in a different reality than other people."

Ali Rogin, PBS: "We heard in that clip, some people struggling with Long COVID. They talk about how they feel their existing in a reality that's different than other people...dealing with lasting impacts.."

Sacha McBain, Rush University Med. Center: "It's incredibly isolating...you're trying to access care, thinking about navigating work and family roles..uncertainty about how to move forward.."
 
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MPR News: 'Osterholm predicted a pandemic for years. Then the battle against COVID-19 became personal'

'And with so many people simultaneously experiencing long COVID, Osterholm said it’s pushed the medical field to better understand what can sometimes be written off as patients' imagined or ill-defined conditions'

“Hopefully, this offers hope to [people with chronic immune diseases] too, that now there is a new effort being made to understand these immune system responses that are just out of whack,” he said
 
Michigan Live: 'They got COVID-19 five years ago, and they don’t know why they’re still sick'

'Yet, many questions remain unanswered.'

'Years of not knowing what’s wrong or how to fix it has been challenging for those like Jennifer Gansler, 56, who felt left in the dark by medical experts who ran numerous tests but found little of significance to explain what ailed her.'

Gansler, an academic advisor at Michigan State University: “I struggled to find support in the medical community, and I had to do a lot of my own research."

'A self-described “super active, outdoors-y person,” she was an otherwise healthy mother who liked to run and hike, having tackled both the Porcupine Mountains and Chicago Marathon in 2019.'

'After five months, she estimated she was 30% recovered. Crushing fatigue made it hard to get out of bed. She had chest tightness, a persistent cough, joint and muscle pain, and hair loss. Simple tasks like taking a shower or talking on the phone left her winded.'
 
Rhode Island PBS Weekly: 'Long COVID Keeps Some Rhode Islanders From Returning to Normalcy'

(10 min segment)

'Many have tried to move on with their lives, but for those suffering from long COVID, also known as long haulers, it’s been difficult. Rhode Island PBS Weekly talks with two women in Providence..'

"Spends most of her time in Providence...getting up to do anything has been a challenge..."

"..the light intolerance is so severe, she constantly wears sunglasses, even at home with the shades drawn..."

"..the cause of Long COVID is still being investigated..."

"so many medical professionals are insisting on more and more evidence, to believe me.."

"A lot of times we'll go through a lot of testing for a long period of time that may ultimately not give them any specific results or might not give them any more information than they had before"

"I am completely dependent on care right now"

"I don't know how long this is going to last..."
 
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WSOC-TV: 'Long COVID survivor reflects on struggles 5 years after pandemic’s surge'

“I have to pace everything. I have to plan out my entire day, to pace myself, to make things possible,” Brooke Keaton said.

But that all changed in December 2020 when she got COVID-19. She said she couldn’t shake off severe fatigue and memory loss.

“Just doing something small, my heart would be racing. I had spells where I would black out for a few seconds from just standing up,” Keaton said.
 
US News: '5 Years Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, Millions Like Me Are Still Sick'

'Today, I use a wheelchair to complete daily activities and am mostly housebound from a severe case of myalgic encephalomyelitis, sometimes called chronic fatigue syndrome, which has a wide range of crippling symptoms. My condition was triggered by a COVID-19 infection in July 2020, and I’m one of the at least 5% of U.S. adults who are still suffering chronic symptoms months or even years after a COVID infection. For us, the pandemic never ended.'

'Five years after COVID first struck, we cannot remain silent. We must urge federal, state and local representatives to support and enact the proven public health strategies I outline here to reduce further harm. On behalf of the long COVID community, I also call on the pharmaceutical industry to invest in finding solutions for the 400 million people worldwide who, like me, are suffering from long COVID.'
 
WKYC: 'Millions still battling long COVID as doctors work to study its causes'

'Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, patients are still dealing with lingering symptoms post infection, with fatigue ranking as the highest.'

'"We see people with brain fog, fatigue, dizziness, fast heart rates, stomach issues, obviously the taste and smell issues that everybody associates with the initial COVID infections," explained Dr. William Lago, who specializes in treating long COVID patients and helped start Cleveland Clinic's ReCOVer Clinic.'
 
NBC: '5 years later, long Covid is still a medical mystery: What scientists have learned'

Why do some people develop disabling chronic conditions after the initial viral infection?

'SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid, isn’t the only virus that causes lingering symptoms. Another condition called myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which shares many similarities with long Covid, is thought to be triggered by infections with the Epstein-Barr, influenza and varicella-zoster viruses, among others.'

One idea is that remnants of the virus hide in different tissues after an infection subsides, Brode said. These viral particles continue to multiply or stimulate the immune system in ways that trigger long Covid symptoms.

Another potential cause involves the reactivation of other viruses, such as EBV and HIV, that have been sitting in a dormant state in people’s bodies.

It’s also possible that Covid tricks the immune system into producing antibodies that attack a person’s own healthy organs and tissues, said Dr. Igor Koralnik, co-director of Northwestern Medicine’s Comprehensive COVID-19 Center.

Some evidence shows that Covid affects the inner lining of the blood vessels, which can lead to the formation of tiny clots and help explain symptoms like irregular heartbeats and heart failure that some long Covid patients experience, Koralnik said.

Koralnik and his team recently discovered that people with long Covid have decreased blood flow in the small blood vessels in their retina, the light-sensitive layer behind the eye. This reduced flow is thought to decrease blood circulation in and around the brain, Koralnik said, which might “poison” tiny organelles called mitochondria that convert oxygen into energy.

This theory can explain why many people with long Covid experience cognitive issues, fatigue and exercise intolerance, Koralnik said.

“Living with long Covid is exhausting,” Cohen said. “So it’s important for everyone who is not living with it to think about what they can do to support folks who are.”

In the meantime, clinical trials must be designed to accommodate and include the patients they’re intended for, Vogel said. Many people are house- or bed-bound
 
ABC News: 'What we still don't know about COVID 5 years after the WHO declared a pandemic'

'Dr. Fernando Carnavali, internal medicine physician and a member of the team at Mount Sinai's Center for Post-COVID Care, said scientists are using machine learning to study groups of long COVID patients in an attempt to determine the mechanisms that cause the condition.'

"Do we have a single answer? Not as of yet, and most likely, perhaps we'll have more than one answer," he said.

Carnavali said the mechanism may not be the same for every long COVID patient. Additionally, people may have different symptoms due to different genetic predispositions.

"Some of the deficits that we have five years ago still remain, but I think that we should all understand and be hopeful that ... researchers using machine learning will [provide] us some of the answers that we need as clinicians," he said.
 
PBS Chicago, 'Chicago Tonight': 'Advocates Say More Help Needed for People With Long COVID'

Marta Cerda, LC patient: "..post-exertional malaise, even if I walk a short distance, I get tired...I have to make accommodations, I have to rest, I have to plan for my time...to manage the symptoms that I have..."

Dr. Jerry Krishnan, UIC: "It's useful to recognize that we're on the path here toward having major discoveries, major treatment for Long COVID...this is an opportunity for all of us to be part of the solution..let's get this solved quicker, together.."
 
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