COVID
Is long COVID becoming less severe ?
A UK rehabilitation specialist offers her perspective on the waning impact of the condition
“ If you have a heart , lung , or other condition before getting COVID-19 , you are more likely to develop long COVID .”
Our ability to help patients suffering from longterm symptoms related to C��ID-�9 was almost non-existent in the early days of the pandemic . This was largely due to both a general lack of understanding about the new infection and overburdened healthcare systems that struggled to cope with the sudden in�ux of patients . �ast forward to mid-2022 and prospects now look much better for patients who haven ’ t been able to fully recover from the virus thanks to prompt rehab care as well as decreased symptom severity .
Most who didn ’ t pull through after the initial C��ID outbreak were significantly impaired , said Dr �nya Daynes , a pulmonary rehabilitation physiotherapist at University Hospitals of �eicester NHS Trust , recalling the first patients she treated back in 2020 .
�They were people in their �0s and �0s who weren ’ t able to walk a couple of hundred metres and couldn ’ t work , � she said .
Long COVID often leads to long-term fatigue as well as difficulty concentrating
Her patients belonged to an unlucky group who experienced a host of debilitating problems after getting infected with C��ID-�9 , including breathlessness , extreme fatigue , pain around the body , and brain fog �di�culty thinking or concentrating� � a complex syndrome known as �long C��ID� and associated with about 200 different symptoms .
�We had no clear idea of what was going on and how this condition would affect patients in the long term , � she told Global Health Asia-Pacific . “ Patients didn ’ t get much treatment acutely because we didn ’ t know how to treat C��ID-�9 , and then they went home and we didn ’ t know how to manage them either� when persistent problems lingered .
Since then , however , Dr Daynes has seen a shrinking number of severe cases probably because of better care , automatic follow-up , and more information available on what to do when one has long C��ID , especially online . �There are always some exceptions to that obviously , but it seems like the picture has generally improved over the years , � she said .
�ne key reason for the improvement has been the development of a rehab model based on the standard approach used for lung conditions , like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease , which may share some symptoms with long C��ID , such as shortness of breath and lack of energy .
In addition , several medications to treat C��ID-�9 have been approved since the outbreak , including the antivirals remdesivir , ritonavir , and molnupiravir and the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab , which can help patients manage C��ID-�9 symptoms and reduce the risk of becoming seriously ill . These treatments might also be playing a role in cutting the risk or severity of long C��ID , speculates Dr Daynes , though researchers are still looking for evidence of such beneficial effects .
C��ID-�9 vaccinations could also be helping ease the burden of long C��ID . Indeed , some researchers have already shown that they might reduce the chances of developing the condition . �ne huge study
32 MAY 2022 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com