The long term effects of COVID-19 can make life hell for months after infection. Now, we might have a way to predict who’s most likely to suffer.
Although vaccines greatly reduce the chances of a severe COVID-19 infection, “long COVID” is still a risk most people want to avoid. Some studies suggest that up to half of all people who have survived infection, including tiredness, chest pains, difficulty breathing, sore joints, and a loss of taste or smell.
It’s been difficult to figure out who could be more susceptible to long COVID . But thanks to some immunological insights from a study run by Swiss researchers, doctors and patients alike might soon have a new tool to predict the likelihood someone will develop the condition. “It took some time until people realized what COVID-19 is and an even longer time to realize that a subset of COVID-19 patients did not recover from acute disease,” Onur Boyman, an immunologist at the University of Zurich and senior author of the new study, told The Daily Beast. “The symptoms experienced by patients with PACS can be very different and affect various organs.
As part of the study, the researchers studied a cohort of 175 COVID patients and 40 healthy individuals for one year. Among the COVID cases, 53.9 percent of mild infections and 82.2 percent of severe infections led to long COVID symptoms. In analyzing the blood of COVID cases, the research team found that PACS patients typically exhibited lower levels of two types of antibodies: IgM, which is important in early immune responses to infections; and IgG3. which plays a big role in combating viruses. These levels were stable over the course of the whole year, which means a blood sample taken at any point in time, regardless of infection status, always returned the same IgM and IgG3 results.
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