Some of the symptoms of prolonged illness caused by coronavirus are chronic fatigue, thought disorder, insomnia, heart problems and difficulty breathing. VOA’s Lesia Bakalets describes what prolonged COVID really represents and how doctors in America are treating it.
After passing COVID-19, many people complain of persistent symptoms for months.
According to a report by the non-profit organization FAIR Health, about 15-20% of those affected by the virus continue to have symptoms months later.
14-year-old Seaenna from the state of Cleveland fell ill with COVID about a year ago.
“When my sense of smell returned, it was completely different, like transformed. Regular meals give me the taste of burning rubber band. “A strange smell,” she says.
Doctors call this long recovery period “prolonged COVID”. The World Health Organization calls the period “post-COVID.”
“It occurs in individuals who are infected with SARS-CoV-2, usually about three months later. “With symptoms that are noticeable for at least three months after coronavirus infection and last for at least another two months and that can not be explained by another diagnosis,” says Janet Diaz, of the World Health Organization.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes 18 common symptoms, including cough, headache, breathing problems, insomnia, irregular heartbeat, and often chronic fatigue.
“She is very present. “Fatigue is combined with symptoms like ‘brain fog’, which means difficulty concentrating, lack of clarity,” says Linda Geng, of the Stanford PACS Clinic.
Dr. Geng cures patients with prolonged COVID.
She says the challenge is to accurately diagnose, that these common symptoms are due to post-COVID and not something else.
“There is a link between the persistence of symptoms that they did not have before taking COVID and the fact that there were no other health changes. “This somewhat eliminates other possibilities,” says Dr. Geng.
Prolonged COVID health centers are expanding rapidly in the United States.
Groups have been set up on social media to help patients cope with the mental consequences of post-COVID symptoms.
Former nurse Laney Bond says 1,500 people a week are added to her social media group.
“We are focused on informing patients,” she said.
The National Institutes of Health has launched a $ 470 million project to learn more about post-COVID symptoms and find a cure for them./VOA
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