New Report Underscores the Seriousness of Long Covid

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

 

The [U.S.] National Academies said the condition could involve up to 200 symptoms, make it difficult for people to work and last for months or years

 

One of the nation’s premier medical advisory organizations has weighed in on long Covid with a 265-page report that recognizes the seriousness and persistence of the condition for millions of Americans.

 

More than four years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, long Covid continues to damage many people’s ability to function, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a nongovernmental institution that advises federal agencies on science and medicine.

 

“Long Covid can impact people across the life span, from children to older adults, as well as across sex, gender, racial, ethnic and other demographic groups,” it said, concluding that “long Covid is associated with a wide range of new or worsening health conditions and encompasses more than 200 symptoms involving nearly every organ system.”

 

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New York Times

https://archive.ph/zFWAb

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

NIH documents show how $1.6 billion U.S. long Covid initiative has failed so far to meet its goals

More than three years ago, the National Institutes of Health launched a $1 billion-plus initiative to find the root causes and potential treatments for long Covid, the chronic disease that has quickly changed the lives of millions of Americans.

 

But a lack of visible progress from the initiative, called RECOVER, has drawn months of criticism from patient advocates, researchers, and lawmakers, including at a Senate hearing last week on the NIH’s budget. “We gave [the NIH] a chance and they bungled it,” said John Bolecek, who has lived with long Covid for two years and has closely followed RECOVER. The program has done nothing “to narrow down what’s actually going wrong with people,” or identify treatments, he said.

 

As the NIH assembled RECOVER, it selected three core institutions to lead most of the research: New York University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the North Carolina-based nonprofit Research Triangle Institute. Now, budget and other project documents obtained by The Sick Times, MuckRock and STAT through the Freedom of Information Act show how decisions made early in this process likely contributed to RECOVER’s slow start.

 

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https://www.statnews.com/2024/05/31/long-covid-nih-recover-initiative-falls-short-on-causes-treatments/

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

New definition of long COVID aims to offer clarity, direction

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), in response to a request from the US federal government, has published a new consensus diagnosis for long COVID.

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"Inconsistencies in definitions have created challenges, and a consensus definition could promote consistency in diagnosis, aid awareness efforts, help patients access appropriate care, services, and benefits, and help harmonize Long COVID research and surveillance," the authors said. 

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The definition, which can be applied to both children and adults, reads: "Long COVID (LC) is an infection-associated chronic condition (IACC) that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems."

 

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https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/new-definition-long-covid-aims-offer-clarity-direction