(CNN) There is no test for long Covid. There is no specific drug to take or exercises to do to alleviate its symptoms. There is no consensus on how long Covid symptoms last, and some doctors even doubt that it is real. Yet with a large number of people having Covid-19, and estimates of 7.7 million to 23 million long-term Covid patients in the US alone, researchers say it has the potential to be “the next public health disaster”.
The Biden administration released two reports this week to begin a government-wide effort to prevent, detect and treat long-term Covid. Two new studies are also trying to pick up some of the small pieces of the puzzle that is long Covid.
The Biden long Covid agenda
President Joe Biden said in April that long-term Covid was a priority for his administration and ordered two reports: one that lays out a research agenda for the country and one that outlines the federally funded services and support available to people in the US with long-term Covid. This may interest you : How will the rest of the world react to the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. . A total of 14 government departments and agencies have worked together to create these new long-range Covid plans.
“A national, US-wide coordinated, action-oriented approach is urgently needed,” the report says.
The plan proposes a new long-standing Covid office within the Department of Health and Human Services, but it offers no details on how to fund or staff the office.
The plan also calls for additional federal investment and asks the private sector to do more. It builds on existing government research with the aim of accelerating and expanding it.
“These initial reports are an important step as HHS continues to accelerate research and programmatic support to address the consequences of the pandemic and work across sectors to ensure that no one is left behind as we continue to build a healthier future,” says HHS.
Higher risks of serious problems for children
Higher risks of serious problems for children
In the past week, more than 14 million children in the United States have tested positive for Covid-19, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. On the same subject : Children receive colorful lessons at the Imagine That science camp. But it is unclear how many have had prolonged Covid.
One study published in July estimated that fewer children have it than adults: 5% to 10% of children who have had Covid. Other researchers believe that the number is much higher: about 26% of children who have had Covid.
Children usually have some of the same symptoms of prolonged Covid as adults — including breathing problems, changes in taste and smell, brain fog, anxiety, depression, fatigue and sleep disorders — but they can also have serious problems that involve their organs . .
A new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that children with prolonged Covid have a much higher chance of serious lung, heart, kidney and pancreas problems than children who have not caught the virus.
For their study, the CDC researchers define prolonged Covid as involving symptoms four or more weeks after a Covid-19 diagnosis.
They used a large database of medical claims to search for 15 long-standing Covid conditions among 781,419 children and teenagers who had a confirmed case of Covid-19.
The study, published on Thursday, found that children with prolonged Covid had higher rates of acute pulmonary embolism, or blockage in the lung, which can cause sudden shortness of breath, anxiety, chest pain, palpitations and dizziness.
They also had a higher rate of potentially serious heart diseases such as myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that can cause a fast or irregular heartbeat, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue and body aches. They had a higher rate of cardiomyopathy, a condition that makes it difficult for the heart muscle to supply blood to the body and, in extreme cases, can lead to heart failure.
Children with prolonged Covid also had a higher chance of kidney failure and were more likely to develop type 1 diabetes.
All of these conditions are uncommon or rare in this age group, the CDC says.
Early in the pandemic, people believed that Covid-19 was not that important for children. Unlike other respiratory viruses, children often have less severe symptoms than adults do, some studies show, but that’s not always the case.
Dr. Amy Edwards, associate medical director of pediatric infection control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, said she has seen children with more severe symptoms such as myocarditis and cardiomyopathy, as well as some problems with blood clotting.
“It’s nice to see evidence here that children are experiencing prolonged Covid symptoms,” said Edwards, who was not involved in the study.
Edwards would like the researchers to distinguish between long Covid and MIS-C, a rare but serious condition that can also follow a case of Covid-19 and causes similar symptoms in the same time period. But any study that raises awareness about long-term Covid can help, she said.
Several patients came to her after other doctors dismissed the seriousness of their symptoms, she said. And she worries about the children whose caregivers don’t know how to get their children the extra help from a doctor or a Covid clinic that they might need to get better.
“Those are the kids that keep me up at night. I care about those kids,” Edwards said.
The CDC researchers say they hope their study will encourage caregivers to vaccinate children and watch for these important symptoms and conditions among children who get Covid-19.
“Covid-19 prevention strategies, including vaccination for all eligible children and adolescents, are critical to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and subsequent illness, including post-Covid symptoms and conditions,” the study said.
12.7% of infections can lead to long Covid
12.7% of infections may lead to long Covid
Another new long-term Covid study finds that 1 in 8 adults with Covid-19 may have symptoms months after the initial infection. To see also : The Indianapolis Children’s Choir receives a grant from the Arts Commission • Current Publishing.
The study, published Thursday in the journal The Lancet, found that 12.7% of people with Covid-19 had new or significantly increased symptoms at least three months after their initial diagnosis, a smaller percentage than some other research has suggested.
The researchers surveyed 4,231 people who had Covid and 8,462 who did not. They monitored the participants 24 times between March 2020 and August 2021 and compared the two groups.
The researchers asked about 23 symptoms, and fatigue and shortness of breath were most common. Many people have also reported chest pain.
The limitations of the study include that it was conducted in the Netherlands and does not include an ethnically diverse population. Most of the data was collected before vaccines were available, and some studies suggest that vaccination may help protect against prolonged Covid.
The research was also conducted before the Omicron coronavirus variant came into being, so it is unclear whether the results would be the same in people infected with later strains.
The researchers say scientists need to do more to determine how long Covid is and how many people get it, as well as how to treat or even prevent it.
“Research has been hampered by a lack of consensus on the prevalence and nature of the post-Covid-19 condition,” the study says.
“There is an urgent need for empirical data informing the scale and scope of the problem to support the development of an appropriate health care response.”
