Fatigue, shortness of breath, and back pain can persist long after testing positive.
The novel coronavirus is so shifty in nature it really seems to be covering all possible clandestine bases. Doctors are now discovering that asymptomatic coronavirus victims can actually become COVID long haulers. This means these people don’t develop any obvious symptoms when they are first infected. They then develop health problems related to the virus, later on.
According to CNN, early research that has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal is looking at the phenomenon. (The work was published on a medical server called medrxiv.org). Surprisingly, researchers found that almost one third of people who reported COVID-related symptoms 60 days after first testing positive for the virus were asymptomatic. They had no symptoms at all when they first tested positive. Over three months later, however, these people went on to develop COVID-19 symptoms. To say the finding is eerie is an understatement. This being the pandemic, however, we can’t say we’re that surprised.
More Women Than Men
How many people were involved? A good-sized crowd was analyzed. Researchers looked at data from the electronic health records of 1,407 coronavirus patients in California. These patients were never hospitalized due COVID-19 but they did get tested.
What was found? More women than men reported persistent coronavirus symptoms about three months after their initial infection. And people of all ages became long haulers. Their symptoms included abdominal, lower back, and chest pain, fatigue, a cough, and shortness of breath.
Related: How to Spot a Fake N95 Mask
It’s not really known why some people get so sick and more research needs to be done to understand exactly what is going on in the body to cause the problem. Some things are coming to light, however. One of these is the similarity found between patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and COVID long haulers.
According to Harvard Health Publishing, some experts say both groups can suffer from ongoing low levels of inflammation in the brain. The two groups can also experience things like autoimmune conditions that cause the body to create antibodies that actually attack a patient’s own brain.
Long Haul Treatments
Since long haul COVID is such a relatively new illness there are not many reliable treatments. A clinic at UC Davis in California is offering some help, however. Specialists are teaming together to try and help people who suffer from complex and persistent coronavirus symptoms. The clinic offers treatment from pulmonary medicine specialists and others. This is for anyone who still has coronavirus symptoms thirty days or more after being diagnosed with the illness.
“As pulmonary medicine experts, we are on the front lines of taking care of these patients in our hospital and clinics,” said Mark Avdalovic, a specialist in pulmonary and critical care medicine and UC Davis Health. “As physicians and researchers, we want to give them, and everyone who’s had COVID-19, a place to go where they can get the kind of help they need today.”
For more information on the UC Davis clinic, check out their webpage online. Consult with your doctor about your symptoms if you feel you are suffering from your coronavirus symptoms for longer than a few weeks.
photo credits: arloo/Shutterstock.com
