The best doctors are still struggling to find the cause of Long COVID leading to debilitating fatigue. And they really do need to do this soon, because the syndrome is literally wrecking people’s lives. Medical News Today reported on a dramatic discovery on October 4, 2022. Researchers have reason to believe a protein cocktail could cause Long COVID syndrome.
How a Protein Cocktail Could Cause Long COVID
- The team decided to investigate a possible link between blood protein levels, and likelihood of Long COVID.
- Then they found “levels of certain proteins” six weeks after the primary infection “may predict Long COVID”.
- But they based their finding on a single group of subjects, and so they recommend further studies to confirm this.
Their study centered on blood samples of healthcare workers who had, or who had not contracted COVID-19. And this lead them to conclude “These changes in the blood that we observe shortly after infection, indicate how the person’s immune system has handled the infection. And may also indicate a predisposition to developing persistent symptoms.”
More Information About This Breaking News Story
University College London researchers led the study, and published an open access paper in Lancet Discovery Science we link to below. They first recruited 54 healthcare workers who had a positive test, or COVID-19 diagnosis. Then they added a control group of 102 healthcare workers who did not have the disease.
It is worth noting they recruited those subjects in March 2020, and all infected cases were ‘non severe’. The researchers monitored the subjects carefully, and collected surveys 6 and 12 months into the program.
- Those who tested positive for COVID had increased levels of certain proteins.
- An increase in these levels correlated with the severity of their COVID symptoms.
- Abnormal levels of 20 proteins predicted development of Long COVID later.
Some of these proteins reflected an inflammatory condition. An independent researcher commented later “there is suspicion that some of the symptoms [of COVID]may relate to small blood clots, or dysregulation of inflammation.”
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