The second corona infection increases the risk of long covid, according to a study. Highly contagious variants such as Omikron BA.5 clearly increase the risk.
Washington – The study situation on Corona is becoming more comprehensive every day. In the case of Long Covid, too, more and more knowledge is coming to the public. Politics, medicine and society always react to new developments. A major topic in recent times is the illness of Long Covid, the “new widespread disease”, as one expert calls it. Also with regard to the risk of suffering from the long-term consequences of a Covid-19 infection after a second corona infection or multiple infections.
Because, according to a new study, reinfection with the virus significantly increases the risk of long-term problems. Highly contagious virus variants such as Omikron BA.5 also pose a particular problem for the Long Covid phenomenon: Reinfection with Omikron BA.5 can take place after just four weeks. Even those who have been vaccinated several times should not underestimate the risk.
Long Covid: Second infection with Corona doubles the risk of late effects – Omicron BA.5 highly contagious
It is common knowledge that Omikron BA.5 is highly contagious. With regard to Long Covid, too, this characteristic of the virus variant is now becoming an issue: It is clear that more corona infections automatically mean a higher risk of Long Covid – simply because there are more cases. But there is apparently another aspect: According to a current, as yet unpublished preprint study by researchers at the University of Washington, the risk of long-term consequences from repeated infection doubles Focus. A second infection is by no means to be taken lightly – even if several vaccine doses have already been administered to this shoulder.
The researchers had noisy Focus evaluated the health insurance data of 257,427 US Army veterans for secondary infections and Long Covid. Among these people, 36,417 had fallen ill twice, 2,263 three times, and 246 four times. The cases of long-term illnesses were then compared with the data from a group of 4.5 million people without corona infection. The result: Those who had been infected several times had a twice as high risk of complications of the cardiovascular system and respiratory tract not only during the acute phase, but also in the period six months after the infection. The hospitalization rate and risk of death also increased dramatically with reinfection, as did the risk of other diseases.
Long Covid: Omikron BA.5 skilfully bypasses vaccination protection
According to the RKI, 77 percent of infections in Germany can now be traced back to the Omicron BA.5 subline. Although vaccinations against the corona virus prevent severe courses in many cases, they do not necessarily protect against infection or the long-term consequences of Long Covid: Vaccination breakthroughs are particularly evident with Omikron BA.5, which bypasses the vaccination even more skilfully than Omikron BA2, for example. Even without a severe course, Long Covid can occur in corona infections with omicron and other variants. More often infected, higher risk, new study finds. Meanwhile, Omikron BA.5 leads to many sick leave, already now.
Recently, another study from Great Britain suggested that there could be fewer long-Covid cases under Omikron. Nevertheless, the subvariant causes such a high increase in the number of infections that the subtypes are apparently becoming more and more of a problem, even with a view to long-term consequences: Kevin McConway, professor emeritus for applied statistics at the Open University, had already stated in the course of the study at the time BBC pointed out this factor. He said back then that the high number of infections “clearly trumped” the supposedly lower risk of long Covid. The omicron variant is generally considered to be particularly infectious.
Long Covid: According to a study on the long-term consequences, vaccination is by no means a free ticket
The Long Covid Study comes to another interesting result that should make all those who feel falsely safe because of their vaccination status sit up and take notice: The higher risk of long-term consequences identified by the researchers in the preliminary study also referred to those who had been vaccinated once and multiple times. In other words: The vaccination protects against severe courses in many cases, but it is not a vaccination for Long Covid – and thus in no way replaces independent action in everyday life.
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It is therefore important to remain cautious right now and to take precautionary measures to protect yourself and others – including measures that may go beyond the applicable corona rules. The symptoms of an illness from Long Covid are diverse, even if the course was mild, they can occur. However, the course is often by no means mild for many vaccinated people, as a field report shows. There are always new variants, such as Omikron BA.2.75 – they make long-term reliable information difficult. In times of high numbers of infections, it is particularly important to protect vulnerable groups.
