Covid: Four symptoms that mean you’re more likely to develop long Covid - study
LONG COVID is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 over a long period of time. Although the condition is rare, enough people in the UK have developed the condition for it to be considered a major issue. There are four symptoms that increase the likelihood of a person developing the condition.
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This makes Long COVID a significant health problem and means that work will have to be done to develop treatments for the condition that either alleviate the symptoms or treat the underlying cause of the prolonged symptoms.
Now, a new report published in the medical journal Cell, has found four factors that increase a person’s likelihood of developing Long COVID.
The research, published earlier this year, has the potential to create actionable pathways for people to reduce their risk of developing Long Covid.
The first of the four factors is the viral load on someone’s blood.
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A person’s viral load is the amount of virus in a person’s infected blood.
Traditionally, the higher someone’s viral load, the more likely they are to develop the condition because there’s more of the virus in their system.
The second factor is the presence of antibodies.
Reactivation of the Epstein-Barr virus is the third factor; this virus has been known to infect people at a younger age.
The Epstein-Barr virus is also known as the herpes virus.
Factor number four is whether the person has type 2 diabetes.
If a person has these four factors their likelihood of developing Long Covid will rise.
However, one problem with these four factors, is that people are unlikely to know if they have all of them.
Yes, a person may very well know if they have herpes or type 2 diabetes, and they should seek treatment for both as soon as possible if they haven’t.
However, the average person is unlikely to know if their viral load is high and, although they’re available, people rarely get antibody tests.
Nevertheless, this information provides some much-needed information and guidance on a person’s risk of developing Long-Covid.
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As mentioned, Long Covid affects around two percent of the UK population.
While this seems small, it is a massive figure.
There are some people who will potentially need treatment for the rest of their lives because of the devastation earlier variants of COVID wrought upon their system.
For more information on Long Covid contact or consult with your GP or the NHS.
