our proteomic long covid kids study is now out, proving the real nature of the disease and closing the lockdown narrative, also opening to a diagnostic test
the backstage of this study including the pubblication process is all detailed in my book
📕➡️
long covid has a well distinct proteomic profile, suggesting a specific inflammatory pattern but also that our diagnosis was pretty good. kids with the famous MISC were less well grouped(and it is known this can happen, like with severe covid or kawasaki)! 2/
Importantly, our diagnostic signature was pretty amazing!
This study used several control groups, found several plausible inflammatory cytokines differently expressed in long covid, and perfectly in line with those found in adults with long covid.
3/
This is only the first step, we are expanding our tools and international collaborations. next step we are close to find an AKT-mTor chronic activation in these patients through miRNA studies :)
Another 13yro girl initially labeled as FUNCTIONAL that had to travel from belgium to my #longcovid clinic in Rome to perform a simple test to document that simply standing up or walking in a boring hospital ward her heart rate goes up and down in a senseless way!
a thread: 1/
inappropriate tachicardia syndromes are very easy to be recognized if docs have basic knowledge and are present in up to 60% of adolescents with long covid or #MECFS.
refusing these tests is ethically non acceptable and medicallly wrong. this condition can explain several
2/
symptoms and is treatable most of the time.
more and more kids are travelling from northern europe to rome to be recognized and diagnose (and treated).
this and many more stories (and much more) in my book
in august, a very quite time for pediatrics in Rome since the city is “empty”, we have had 10 admissions for #COVID19: 9 infants with difficulty feeding requiring IV fluids and 1 with complex seizures intubated for some hours and now doing well.
what does that mean? 👇🏿
clinically, all kids will recover from the acute phase and will not classified as deaths. Still, there are direct and indirects costs for the families and healthcare.
Long term outcomes to be defined.
As a comparison, we had some malarias, 2 meningitis (neisseria and pneumo)👇🏿
some pneumonias, 1 HUS, some gastro from coli/salmonella/campilo, etc.
none of the other pathogens were the single cause of 10 admissions in these 20 days.
Nothing worryingly, but IMHO definitely a sign that something is changing, epidemiologically but maybe not only? 👇🏿
I am extremely happy to see our paper “Viral persistence in children infected with SARS-CoV-2: current evidence and future research strategies” available open access on @lancet microbe. 👇🏿
@lancet In this paper, we analyze the unchallengeable evidence that SARS-CoV-2 can persist after initial infection also in children of any age. 👇🏿
@lancet Than, we discuss, according to medical current knowledge, the possible effects of persistence in human body and what next research priorities should be, including in terms of pharmacological treatments. 👇🏿