Pessimistic estimates show that up to 30 percent of infected people may experience persistent symptoms after coronavirus disease, writes the popular science journal Nature.
“People with the condition called long covid continue to experience symptoms such as fatigue, shortness of breath and even difficulty concentrating – weeks, months or years after SARS-CoV-2 infection,” it says.
Norwegian health authorities point out that most people who undergo covid-19 recover, but some get long-term ailments.
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Seriously ill people with intensive care have an increased risk of having late effects after covid-19, so-called “long covid”, writes National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) in a knowledge overview.
But also people, who had a milder course of covid-19, can risk long-term problems, FHI points out.
Among people with covid-19, who were not hospitalized, the most commonly reported symptoms are 6-12 months after the disease:
- impaired memory
- altered sense of taste and / or smell
- exhaustion / fatigue
- impaired ability to think and concentrate, so-called “brain fog”
- tung empty
– There is a need for studies that examine the incidence of late sequelae after covid-19 among vaccinated people compared with unvaccinated, and the risk of late sequelae after infection with the omicron variant, FHI believes.
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New findings
In a fresh studywhich has not yet been peer-reviewed, Israeli researchers have looked at the protection corona vaccine has provided against long covid – for the first three virus variants of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that gained a foothold during the worldwide pandemic from March 2020.
The researchers found that corona-infected individuals, who had received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, were significantly less likely to report the most common long-term symptoms after covid-19 infection, compared to unvaccinated corona-infected individuals.
– Here’s another reason to get vaccinated, if you needed one, says Michael Edelstein, epidemiologist at Bar-Ilan University in Safed, Israel and co-author of the study, according to the journal Nature.
The researchers asked people who had tested for covid-19 between March 2020 and November 2021 to answer questions about long-term ailments.
957 corona infected and 2437 who were not detected infection are included in the study. Among those with covid-19, 67 percent were vaccinated.
CORONA VACCINE: Millions of vaccine doses have been set during the pandemic. Photo: Bjørn Langsem
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Strong reduction
And the numbers speak for themselves.
The researchers found that fully vaccinated, who had tested positive for covid-19, were 54 percent less likely to report headaches, 64 percent less likely to report fatigue or exhaustion, and 68 percent less likely to report muscle pain, compared with unvaccinated .
Edelstein claims their study is the most “comprehensive and accurate” to date that deals with vaccination and long covid.
He also points out that the results reflect the results from previous studies, including from the UK.
Immunvirologist Akiko Iwasaki of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut points out that vaccination reduces the incidence of long covid by preventing people from becoming infected in the first place.
“In theory, vaccines can also protect against the condition by minimizing how long the virus has free rein in the body during breakthrough infections,” he says, but points out that research so far has shown mixed results, says Iwasaki.
OPTIMIST: Assistant Health Director Espen Rostrup Nakstad. Photo: Nina Hansen
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Reason for hope
Assistant Director of Health Espen Rostrup Nakstad points out that the new, Israeli study is one of several that confirm that a serious course of the disease causes greater health problems both in the acute phase of the disease and in retrospect, in the form of long covid.
– The study has a good design, but since it has included patients over a long period of time with three different virus variants in circulation – the Wuhan, alpha and delta variants – it is primarily suitable to substantiate that vaccinated people seem to have fewer long-term ailments. – not just milder disease in the actual acute phase, says Nakstad.
The Norwegian Directorate of Health’s man believes we still know little about the effects of the omicron variant, but believes there is reason for optimism.
– For the time being, it seems that the symptom picture is quite similar to previous variants, but with a milder course. Therefore, there is reason to hope that the incidence of long covid will also be less prominent in the omicron variant than in previous virus variants, says Nakstad.
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