A recent burst of studies provides new elements on the causes and the frequency of this pathology.
By With AFP
Ddifficult to define scientifically, the long covid is better and better understood. It is characterized by the persistence of symptoms – fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of smell… – several months after a covid infection. This definition is very vague, which lends itself to lively scientific polemics. Is there a single “long covid” or different pathologies of various origins? Should we see more psychological or physiological causes?
Several recent studies argue for the second track. One, published at the end of January in the journal Cell and carried out on several hundred patients diagnosed with covid, followed for several months, shows several common points in those finally suffering from lasting symptoms.
-Pre-existing type 2 diabetes.
-High levels of the Sars-CoV-2 virus in the blood.
-The presence of the Epstein-Barr virus in the blood, a virus that causes mononucleosis in particular.
-The presence of auto-antibodies in the blood, antibodies that turn against the body itself.
Another study, published in the journal Gut and carried out in Hong Kong with a hundred patients, shows that the symptoms of long covid are associated with a lasting disturbance of the microbial balance in the intestine.
This work gives promising leads but must be taken with caution: the number of people examined remains low and other studies will be needed to confirm these conclusions. Even then, a direct causal mechanism will still have to be established.
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