1/🧵 Long COVID’s “Disability Roulette”
🔺No longer a mass Death event…
🔺COVID-19 is an ongoing mass #Disability event
🔺You & I might get #LongCOVID
🔺But society is yawning
This thread unpacks science, policy & hope.
No Paywall Boston Globe link:
bit.ly/3OGfSb1
Friends, I have an entire 20 tweet thread 🧵 uploading here (links, PDF images, etc etc -
but it’s stuck in twitter world.
I apologize for the glitch here. Oy!
2/ The heartbreak we see has scientists working to discover answers💔
Drs. @VirusesImmunity & @PutrinoLab explore hypotheses
📍viral persistence
📍vital reactivation
📍autoimmunity
📍inflammation
Testing antivirals, immune modulators, blood thinners. bit.ly/45E1F4v
3/ Data from 223 unvaxxed Mild/Mod COVID survivors
✔️ Show abnormal MRI 🧠 white matter inflammation at 9 mo vs matched controls
✔️Prolonged cellular changes occur & we don’t yet know the significance
✔️Clinical outcomes vary strikingly across studies
bit.ly/43f0vL2
4/ Brain inflammation in other types of #Dementia…
🔸Is often present YEARS before memory & executive dysfunction deficits appear
🔸Don’t be complacent or assume #LongCOVID is safe for peoples’ brains
🔸It’s precarious!
🔸 I covered this haunting brain science in 🧵👇
5/ Dr. @EricTopol tackles important new COVID-19 brain data beautifully
Topol warns us…⛔️
“Recall post-polio syndrome appears 15-30 YEARS after polio - a leading theory is viral persistence.
H/T fig @SutherlandPhD
Read his new substack here: bit.ly/3OMOzfi
6/ COVID survivors who died of non-covid causes (N=20)
📌 In autopsies, 60% had “enormous amounts of Spike Protein” in skull, meninges & brain - ✍🏻 author @erturklab
📌Not seen in controls
📌Similar findings in skull & brain of mice
📌 Vaxx not studied
bit.ly/3MZDINI
7/ It is highly curious how these problems occurred in “neck-up” skull-meninges-brain structures 🤔
📎 Think again of long-term implications of this virus
📎 When >200 symptoms/signs occur in #LongCOVID after even mild infection
📎 Direct + indirect viral causes are at play
8/ We are sorting out risk factors for Long COVID
✔️ Eg: Obesity dampens the initial immune response to COVID
✔️ Pts w high BMI have less expression of IFN & TNF
✔️ “Leptin Resistance”👇
✔️ Could this allow ongoing viral replication & worse #LongCOVID?
bit.ly/43vvZfB
9/ More direction come from >200k Medicare pts
🔹Using narrow and broad definitions of Long COVID
🔹Risk factors found = hypertension, chronic lung disease, obesity, diabetes & depression
🔹Time between initial COVID & LC was ~8 mos
bit.ly/3MCrvgt
10/ How “Long” is Long COVID?
☑️ Swedish study found 85% of people w LC at 4 mos still had cognitive, muscle & fatigue problems at 2 yrs😔
☑️ Of those unable to work at 4 mo due to LC, ~50% unable to work at 2 yrs
☑️ Massive implications if plays out 🌎
bit.ly/3WG6Cp5
11/ A new “Scorecard for PASC” @JAMA_current
✏️ This is meant #Research
✏️ Not validated for clinical diagnostic use
✏️ N=9,764 pts
Notable:
10% pts had PASC at 6 mo
⬆️ COVID Reinfections ⬆️LC risk!
bit.ly/45ztWsQ
TY @tthaweethai @LisaAMcCorkell @leorahorwitzmd
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