“There is currently no accepted case definition for symptoms or duration of long COVID. Consequently, it is difficult to estimate the prevalence or characteristics of this new condition,” one paper writes. It sometimes feels like trying to understand long COVID is like trying to nail Jell-O to a wall.
But there’s good news: In recent weeks, we have gotten some honest and quality research on what happens to people with long-term consequences from COVID.
The actual reason these symptoms occur is currently up for intense debate among those who study long COVID. Some think it’s due to a small amount of persistent coronavirus that still remains in long-haulers, causing immune fatigue. Others think it’s due to dysautonomia, in which the virus starts impacting the nervous system.
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A [recent study] in the Journal of Clinical Immunology also found an interesting link: People who have had long COVID generally had relatively lower antibody levels than those who had COVID and recovered. That’s led some to believe that boosting immune response — by vaccination or injection of outside antibodies — might be a reasonable idea to help long COVID sufferers.
