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Concept
Long COVID
Summary
Long COVID or long-haul COVID is a series of health problems persisting or developing after an initial COVID-19 infection. Symptoms can last weeks, months or years and are often debilitating. The World Health Organization defines long COVID to start three months after infection, but other definitions put the start of long COVID at four weeks.
Long COVID is characterised by a large number of symptoms. Symptoms sometimes disappear and reappear. Commonly reported symptoms of long COVID are fatigue, memory problems, shortness of breath, and sleep disorder. Many other symptoms can also be present, including headaches, loss of smell or taste, muscle weakness, fever, and cognitive dysfunction and problems with mental health. Symptoms often get worse after mental or physical effort, a process called post-exertional malaise. There is a large overlap in symptoms with ME/CFS.
The causes of long COVID are not yet fully understood. Hypotheses include lasting damage to organs and blood vessels, problems with blood clotting, neurological dysfunction, persistent virus or a reactivation of latent viruses and autoimmunity. Diagnosis of long COVID is based on suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infection, symptoms and by excluding alternative diagnoses.
Estimates of the prevalence of long COVID vary based on definition, population studied, time period studied, and methodology, generally ranging between 5% and 50%. Prevalence is less after vaccination. Risk factors are higher age, female sex, having asthma, and a more severe initial COVID-19 infection. , there are no established disease-modifying treatments. Management of long COVID depends on symptoms. Rest is recommended for fatigue and pacing for post-exertional malaise. People with severe symptoms or those who were in intensive care may require care from a team of specialists. A majority of people with symptoms at 4 weeks recover by 12 weeks. Recovery for those still ill at 12 weeks is slower or plateaus. For a subset of people, for instance those meeting the criteria for ME/CFS, symptoms may be lifelong.
Official source
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