For many people, Covid is not a thing of the past. A renewed effort is needed to find out exactly what it is, and how to treat it, says immunologist Danny Altmann
For many people, Covid is not a thing of the past. A renewed effort is needed to find out exactly what it is, and how to treat itover the past few weeks was the palpable dismay and affront shown by the mild-mannered NHS respiratory consultant Prof Chris Brightling, when he noted that Boris Johnson’s response to a Department of Health briefing on long Covid was to write “bollocks” across it in large letters.he was “deeply saddened” and made “extremely angry” by the comment.
In each of these spheres there has come the stark realisation that the initial momentum has fallen off the cliff edge. There have been incredible scientific advances in our understanding of the disease, but we are also learning how little we actually know. Gez Medinger, my colleague, has described the initial research as being like a huge jigsaw puzzle with some of the easy bits in place around the edge, and everyone trying to guess if the picture in the middle is of a horse or a steam engine.
For researchers working in the many medical areas that appear to be affected by long Covid – such as blood coagulation, autoimmune disease, viral persistence, organ damage, or any number of others – the big picture remains challenging. How can these areas be pulled together in such a way as to make a real clinical difference? Agives us a sense of the problem, as it reports intriguing new information about how long Covid may work, but also complicates our overall understanding.
In terms of long Covid clinics, sufferers elsewhere look at the UK with some envy in terms of an agreed and costed masterplan for ongoing national provision. However, services are uneven across the country, and many long Covid sufferers express their frustration at what they perceive as the lack of a substantive care pathway or therapeutic options to get them back up to speed.
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