The term “long covid” came from early patients who called themselves “long-haulers” when their pandemic maladies lingered for months. It is now increasingly apparent that long covid presents a potential tidal wave of suffering – afflictions stemming from covid-19 that refuse to go away. The scope of the problem is still unknown. But a new study from the Netherlands offers important clues.
In a paper published in the Lancet, Aranka Ballering and colleagues at the Lifelines Corona Research Initiative report on an effort to discover the nature and prevalence of post-covid conditions based on a large population sample. The report corrects for those who had certain symptoms before the virus infection, and also for disease dynamics in the general population. That helped them drill down on actual damage caused by the pandemic. They found that post-covid symptoms lingered in about 1 in 8 people. If true, such a proportion could mean 70 million or more sufferers of long covid worldwide based on the total of over 588 million infected to date, and probably far more. Some studies have given even higher prevalence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a recent large study that 1 in 5 adults from 18 to 64 years old who had covid, and 1 in 4 aged 65 years and over, had at least one persisting health condition related to their covid infection. Yet another survey put the prevalence at 43 percent.
The Netherlands study was based on digital questionnaires sent to patients between March 31, 2020, and Aug. 2, 2021 – mostly before the delta and omicron waves – and recorded long covid symptoms from three to five months after the initial infection. The main symptoms bothering people were chest pain, difficulties with breathing, lump in throat, pain when breathing, painful muscles, heavy arms or legs, loss of taste and smell, alternating feelings of hot and cold, tingling extremities and general tiredness. The study found some symptoms that were “not significantly increased” in severity at 90 to 150 days after infection, suggesting they may not be associated with long covid: headache, itchy eyes, dizzyness, back pain and nausea.
Other studies have identified a broader constellation of troubles among long-haulers affecting nearly every organ system. What the new study did not include, but remains a serious complaint among long-covid patients, is cognitive difficulty – so-called brain fog in the aftermath of covid.
A recent research plan published by the Biden administration makes the point that long covid is real, but the impact not yet fully grasped. Disease and disability could force many people to work less, or differently, affecting the economy and workplace; the health-care burdens could be enormous; long covid could exacerbate racial, ethnic and economic disparities. The Biden plan notes, “Pandemics such as influenza and polio resulted in long-term consequences that persisted for decades.” So will this pandemic. The challenge is going to be how to cope with it for years to come.
(c) 2022, The Washington Post
The Lancet is infamous for their fabrications in the entire area of vaccines, despite their good reputation.
And has anyone bothered to check the correlation between covid vaccines and this alleged “long covid”? Does anyone unvaccinated have it? I have NEVER heard of anyone unvaccinated having this alleged malady. Maybe it’s b/c the unvaccinated were educated enough to know how to treat covid and use the many safe and effective and inexpensive remedies available (like Ivermectin and raw ginger, etc.).
Yes, plenty of unvaccinated people have been affected, and plenty of vaccinated people have not. Next.
Btw, is there a correlation between non vaccination and dissociative symptomatology?
Bury your heads in the sand, but there are many people whose lives are forever altered by this virus. Even today. The flimsy excuse that others have underlying illnesses is not the Torah way. It is murder to knowingly go about your life when you have been exposed to the virus and carelessly infect others by not taking basic precautions. We are taught VeNishmartem and we are taught to care for others. It is the Yetzer Hara who whispers in our ears to ignor Rabbanim and doctors instructions. Olam Hafuch when we have reached the callous attitude of “We need to live with the virus” and those who are hurt, well, what can we do? Its all from Shamayim right? NO, we must still take precautions. One can get hurt crossing the street right? But dont we teach our children basic precautions so that they dont get killed crossing the street? The Torah doesnt expect us to become hermits but does demand basic precautions. Listen to our Rabbanim and Doctors, not the Erev Rav.
How can anyone be affected by a fake virus that exists only in the media and the politicians and lying doctors? By the way, the Rabbanim have bH learned this too and told their followers not to take the death jabs anymore.
Rather an Erev Rav and alive than an idiot who kills himself with toxic vaccine.
According to several honest upstanding doctors there is no pandemic, nobody was hurt nor died from this virus and surely nobody will “live with this virus”. According to these doctors, the faccine organizations have carried out premeditated first degree murder and bio-terrorism via bio-weapons. Doesn’t it upset you that millions have been injured or died from this so called pandemic accine?
Those burying their heads in the sand are people like you who naively trust these evil doctors. It hurts me to read such posts. Nebech! Are you still wearing a mask or 2 that blocks your brains?
Unvaccinated suffered from covid symptoms way more especially when considering that they are usually younger and with fewer known underlying illnesses. High risk population vaccinated at a higher rate. The number of unvaccinated also suffered at least 15%more than vaccinated. Long covid has increased dialysis dependence and oxygen use as well as chronic fatigue syndrome. I can understand a personal decision not to vaccinated, but why the need to proselytize??? Wasn’t the first year of covid bad enough?? The vaccine may not be perfect but for now it’s what we got.
Can you name an unvaccinated who had covid and died from it suddenly at home? In a hospital s/he was surely killed. How come nobody knows of a person who died from “covid”?
Where do you pick up your rubbish from? Give us sites.
If you took the vaccine and still alive and not injured, you need to bentch gomel because you were from the lucky ones who got a placebo.