Dr.Benny PV1

1 Professor & HOD,

Department of Community Medicine,

Sree Gokulam Medical College,

Venjaramoodu, Trivandrum

LONG-COVID-19
Some people continue to have health problems
long after they get COVID-19. Most people who get
coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) recover
within a few weeks. But some people, even those
with mild disease, may experience symptoms long
afterward. These ongoing health problems are
sometimes referred to as post-COVID-19 syndrome,
long COVID-19, long-haul COVID-19, post-COVID
conditions, and post-acute sequelae of SARS COV-
2 infection (PASC).

WHAT IS POST-COVID-19 SYNDROME
post-Covid syndrome involves a variety of f new,
recurring or persistent symptoms that people
experience more than four weeks after the onset of
COVID-19 infection. In some people, post-Covid-19
syndrome can last months or years or cause
disability.

HOW COMMON IS IT ?
Multiple studies have shown that 1 in 5 people aged
18 to 64 have at least one illness possibly related to
COVID-19 within a month to a year after COVID-19.
One in four people aged 65 and over has at least
one illness that could be caused by COVID-19.

COMMON SYMPTOMS OF POST-COVID-
19 SYNDROME
The most commonly reported symptoms of post-
COVID-19 syndrome include: Fatigue, Symptoms
that get worse after physical or mental effort,
Fever, Lung (respiratory) symptoms, including
difficulty breathing or shortness of breath and
cough.

OTHER POSSIBLE SYMPTOMS
Neurological symptoms or mental illness, including
difficulty thinking or concentrating, headache,
trouble sleeping, dizziness when standing, tingling,
loss of smell or taste, depression or anxiety, joint or
muscle pain, heart symptoms or illness, including
chest pain and rapid or fast heartbeat, indigestion;
including diarrhea and stomach pain, blood clots
and blood vessel (vascular) problems; including
blood clots traveling from deep veins in the legs to
the lungs and blocking blood flow to the lungs
(pulmonary embolism), rash, and menstrual cycle
changes.

NEW AND UNIQUE TO COVID-19
SYNDROME
It is unclear whether post-COVID-19 syndrome is
new and unique to COVID-19. Some symptoms
resemble those caused by chronic fatigue
syndrome and other chronic diseases that develop
after infection. Chronic fatigue syndrome involves
extreme fatigue that worsens with physical or
mental activity but does not improve with rest.

POSSIBLE CAUSE FOR POST-COVID
SYNDROME
Organ damage may play a role. People who are
severely ill with COVID-19 may experience organArticle, GG Med, Blog Page
damage affecting the heart, kidneys, skin, and
brain. Inflammation and immune system problems
may also occur. It is unclear how long these effects
will last. These effects can also lead to the
development of new diseases, such as diabetes or
heart or neurological disorders. Another element
might be the experience of having severe COVID-
19. Intensive care units in hospitals are frequently
needed to treat COVID-19 patients with severe
symptoms. Extreme weakness and post-traumatic
stress disorder, a mental health disease brought on
by a horrific event, may occur from this.

WHO ARE AT RISK OF POST-COVID-19
SYNDROME..?
If you had a severe COVID-19 illness, especially if
required hospitalisation or intensive care, had
certain medical conditions prior to contracting the
virus, had a condition affecting your organs and
tissues (multisystem inflammatory syndrome)
while sick with COVID-19 or afterward, may be
more likely to develop post-COVID-19 syndrome.

LONG-TERM EFFECTS ON THE HEART
Myocarditis and cardiac myocyte damage can lead
to residual morphologic and functional impact on
the myocardium particularly in those with pre-
existing cardiac disease. Optimal assessment of
long-term outcomes of COVID-19-related cardiac
injury, whether myocarditis or other injury,
requires regular follow-up with clinical
investigation, cardiac arrhythmia monitoring, and
multimodality imaging. Myocardial inflammation
can be observed radiologically (on CMR) in patients
recovering from COVID-19, in both asymptomatic
and symptomatic patients.