Thread by @elisaperego78

Good to see more talking about Long Covid. But this not entirely correct. We know *a lot* about #LongCovid. There are thousands of papers. We know there is prolonged damage in basically all organs and body systems, with many severe effects involving the cardiovascular system

🧵

https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1515798931413766145

In a research letter from late summer 2020, my co-authors and I wrote that damage inflicted by #LongCovid on individuals, society, and healthcare was going to be so high to be "unphantomable".
We were right.
Society as a whole still need to grasp with the effects of SARS-CoV-2

We need policy makers and medical professionals to be crystal clear in their messaging on #LongCovid. The prolonged effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection ~ Covid are multiple, with an increased risk of death, severe cardiovascular events, like pulmonary embolism or heart failure

microvascular damage in multiple organs, cardiopulmonary sequelae, prolonged clotting disorders, neurological disease, brain damage at multiple levels, prolonged liver disease, prolonged kidney disease, prolonged immune dysfunction

increased risk of metabolic disease, evidence of autoimmunity, arthritis, increased risk of pregnancy loss, impact on menstruation, thyroiditis and thyroid dysfunction, the possibility for viral persistence in different forms ~ to name just a few. But there is much more.

I reiterate covid ~ #LongCovid is a multidimensional, multi-system disease, with prolonged effects across the entire body: from "brain to toe". This was already evident about acute covid, specifically, as early as April 2020: "A rampage through the body"

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

We can estimate already hundreds of millions across the world suffer from #LongCovid. The disease can come in all spectrums of severity. It can present with subclinical or asymptomatic/pauci-symptomatic pathology ("silent", almost silent). This can be true of acute covid, too

#LongCovid is a huge disaster, attention to which was drawn by patients in early~mid 2020. Patients identified, named and characterized correctly prolonged covid symptoms, sign ~ sequelae as a multi-system condition cross-cutting ages and acute covid's levels of severity

It is interesting to see discussion about the vagus nerve as a case study, for sure. But it's really key to grasp Covid is a multi-system disease, and so is #LongCovid: the prolonged symptoms, signs and sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection. I hope to see more on this in the future

If you want to know more about #LongCovid from a scientific view point I have prepared a few 🧵 over time, where you can get more information on the disease in accesible manner

In this thread, I address Long Covid in children #LongCovidKids

https://twitter.com/elisaperego78/status/1439966792760365064?t=nOsvtfzQmYcRgY4gy09Ilg&s=19

In this 🧵 publications and more accessible articles on #LongCovid in adults. As for the thread on pediatric Long Covid, I add new papers when they come out. The thread is not exhaustive, but it gives a glimpse into the range of damage from SARS-CoV-2

https://twitter.com/elisaperego78/status/1459215406439272449?t=17LZVyCWxyOd2CMu_5_hfw&s=19

A 🧵 on recent research on #LongCovid as a thrombotic phenomenon, with links to patient-led research and early work on the topic, which the patient community started in 2020 and 2021 already

https://twitter.com/elisaperego78/status/1511818387143413761?t=ppZDeQSLJ4UwjuIIV5AlXQ&s=19

🧵 on acute ~ #LongCovid with a focus on cardiovascular ~ clotting effects after a "mild" ~asymptomatic acute covid case. An empahsis is on what we knew already in 2020~1. The interview linked in the first tweet to Dr Al-Aly on his recent paper is v good

https://twitter.com/elisaperego78/status/1504590278908391428?t=5uPowvaYijN97FUB5-OJRA&s=19

My starting point in the cardiovascular ~ clotting 🧵 🔝 was the JH interviewer (see first tweet) stating that only recently we understood that "mild" acute covid could lead to severe cardiovascular ~ clotting sequelae ~ effects. But this was already emerging in 2020

🧵 a must to know. The first SARS left many survivors with prolonged symptoms and sequelae. Some never recovered and have tried to warn the world about SARS-CoV-2 already in January 2020.

This is what I call #longSARS

#LongCovid

https://twitter.com/elisaperego78/status/1437130334869544961?t=R51JU0Pc4KvVM5SuMksiKA&s=19

Many people with chronic diseases and post-viral illnesses like ME/CFS have tried to raise the alarm already in 2020. There are many viruses and pathogens, more in general, that can cause prolonged disease. Symptoms and damage can affect multiple organs and body systems

They should have factored prolonged disease into policy responses since the beginning. And it was crystal clear by spring 2020 that covid wasn't the "flu" with a 2 to 6 week recovery time that had been sold to people
#LongCovid was an established phenomenon in May 2020