Increased number of long Covid cases being found after recovery from mild infections

A recent study has found an increased risk of long-term complications in previously healthy patients after recovery from COVID-19.

While most fully people recover from COVID-19 within several weeks, a new study published in the medical journal, Thorax,  provides evidence that for some, COVID-19 can lead to chronic, long-term health issues; even in healthy patients with no preexisting conditions and in those who displayed only mild symptoms during their time of infection.

Researchers from University College London, alongside clinicians at the Royal Free London and University College London Hospitals NHS Trust, studied hundreds of Covid-19 patients in the weeks following their reported recovery from the disease. 

The findings of the study showed that approximately 70% of patients were still suffering from a multitude of symptoms of what experts are now calling, “long Covid” more than seven weeks after recovery.

Fatigue and persistent shortness of breath were the two most common reported symptoms, with 69% of patients experiencing extreme fatigue and over half of patients experiencing prolonged shortness of breath.

The study also showed that nearly a third of patients still had a cough after the seven week period, and that 38% of patient chest X-rays stayed abnormal after recovery, with approximately one in ten of these chest X-rays actually getting significantly worse.

The study also seemed to confirm a link between COVID-19 and psychiatric issues, with nearly 1 in 5 patients developing mental health issues after recovery, with anxiety, depression, and insomnia being the most common.

The findings of the study are indeed troubling as experts learn more about the disease, and doctors around the world admit that the condition experts are calling “long Covid” is not widely understood.

With the list of symptoms displayed by those experiencing long Covid growing larger every day, doctors are struggling to treat and care for patients displaying the multitude of symptoms, which have also been reported to include hair loss, memory loss, confusion, and muscle pain.

“We haven’t really seen any other illness that affects so many different organ systems in as many different ways as Covid does long term,” said Zijian Chen, medical director for Mount Sinai Health System’s Center for Post-Covid Care.

For patients suffering from long Covid, the future is uncertain, as experts are not certain when symptoms will subside, if at all.

“I’m not ready to accept this as my new reality,” said Erika Johnson, who still suffers from a racing heart, breathlessness, and fatigue nearly 7 months after her initial Covid diagnosis in April.

Johnson, who claims she has been unable to return back to work because of her extreme symptoms, says she is frustrated with how little is known about long Covid.

“I feel like every time I go to the doctor, I’m the one teaching them. No one knows how to help us,” she said.

As the pandemic rages, doctors and experts say that with every passing day, they are learning more about the long-term effects of the virus, giving Covid “long-haulers,” as they are often called, hope for a returned sense of normalcy.