Danny Altman is a professor of immunology at Imperial College London. He has also contributed COVID advice to the UK Cabinet Office, All-Party Cabinet Groups, and the European Union. It follows we should hear what he says, when he asks dare we ignore the lessons of Long COVID in the Guardian of April 16, 2022. We cannot push it aside as we may have tried to with ME Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
We Dare Not Ignore Long COVID’s Lessons.
Some 2.5% of people in United Kingdom may be suffering from Long COVID. Moreover, Danny confirms ‘our vaccines are no match’ for the debilitating syndrome. Wikipedia’s measured words describe this as ‘a condition characterized by long-term consequences persisting, or appearing after the typical convalescence period of COVID-19’.
But this time we can’t look past the problem if we are healthy and young. That’s because the author counts keen cyclists, runners, skiers and dancers among his acquaintances who have it. Some are unable to resume their professions, he says. While others ‘are now disabled and deprived of their former passions’. This is the basis for him saying we dare not ignore the lessons of Long COVID.
The Syndrome is Present in Mild Omicron Too
Danny Altman concedes most of the severe and ‘long hauling’ cases date from the first infection phase. However, the condition does not directly correlate with the severity of infection. That’s why the sheer volume of vaccine-breakthrough Omicron COVID cases are creating their own wave.
Moreover, the symptom’s characteristics are shifting too. The author lists sight, hearing and motor-function deficits, alongside gastrointestinal pain, joint pain, rashes, swelling and fatigue. Therefore he observes, ‘the potential legacy of chronic, disabling illness makes this utterly different from most other winter respiratory pathogens.
‘This is now a highly infectious, upper-respiratory virus able to re-infect repeatedly’ he continues. ‘If we renege on mitigations … this may be the blunder that we rue for decades to come. Even after the original wave of lockdowns and deaths has become a distantly remembered nightmare.’
FOOTNOTE: Other terms for Long COVID include post-COVID-19 syndrome, post-COVID-19 condition, post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, and chronic COVID syndrome.
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