So here in Canada, 110 millions for COVID has been allocated for research - most of it would be for vaccine development, infection control, and bio research. it would be fair to think that some of this research money or additional money will go to Long-COVID, but not to ME.
In my view, patients with Long-COVID need to be assessed side by side with ME patients. The longterm management should reflect the knowledge already accrued in the ME field so no harm is perpetrated to them, and inversely, if these patients are offered pharmacotherapy to alleviate their long term symptoms, that patients with ME can benefit from that as well.
If the 2 patient groups were allowed to 2 very different pathways, the physicians following Long-COVID patients may be infectious disease specialists, autonomic doctors, pulmonologists, kinesiologists, and whatever else top of the line dream team may be formed.
In the parallel universe where the local program has a 2 year wait time for patients with ME and only see the dr once, maybe twice, and then are pushed into group sessions to manage their symptoms, and then returned to their GP for care for the rest of their lives.
The benefit of having a “post-viral” combined service is to share knowledge, to advance research, to compare natural courses of disease, and to benefit from medical talent in understanding the pathology, for all.
Both groups benefit from each other’s knowledge: ME physicians and patients know about OI and POTS, PEM, managing symptoms, how to pace, etc. POST-COVID patients inform about the early stages of ME when the disease is installing itself in the body, providing critical information in understanding pathogenesis. Acute care is just as necessary as chronic care, where the most severe also have access to care (which is not the case here), regardless whether you are 2 months into your illness or 8 years.
