With the increase this summer we are seeing in cases of COVID-19, there is a lot more talk about it again.
While the number of hospitalizations is nowhere near what it was during that first year of the pandemic, they are up in number a little in some states, including California. There are even some places that have asked people to get their masks out of storage and use them at times.
And now new research is showing that there have been a lot more people living with long COVID than maybe first thought.
Defined as having lingering signs, symptoms, or conditions still present six weeks after the infection, long COVID can bring on general fatigue and respiratory, cardiovascular, or neurological symptoms.
Researchers at Northwestern University explain that when the pandemic first began, millions of Americans were exposed to the virus yet were not able to get an official diagnosis because there were not yet a lot of test kits in the beginning.
And the research showed that as time passed, many of those not-officially-counted COVID-19 patients developed a post-viral syndrome with symptoms very similar to those of long COVID.
The study also suggests that long COVID could actually be a different viral syndrome that doesn’t test positive for actual COVID but has some similar symptoms.
Whatever the case, the researchers say it is clear more research has to be done.
(Photo Getty Images)
Photo: Getty Images