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New Delhi, October 17 (PTI) Long-covid may not be as fatal and hard-hitting as acute COVID-19 and improves mostly with time, but it can exacerbate existing ailments such as diabetes and kidney disease, said health care experts.
The criteria for defining long-COVIDs are still in development, but the WHO recently described it as a post-COVID-19 condition in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 along with symptoms associated with its at least two months and can not be explained by an alternative diagnosis.
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Dr Khan Amir Maroof, Professor at Department of Community Medicine, and Coordinator of Medical Education Unit, University College of Medical Sciences and GTB Hospital, Delhi, said some patients were re-admitted, even after recovery or sought OPD consultation for Covid-related problems.
“We know that it (Long-Covid) is a real entity that we need to follow in the long run in our research and clinical practice. The effect on the quality of life and the economic status of a family and a community is also better understood, “Dr Maroof told PTI.
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He said various terms — post-COVID, post-acute COVID syndrome, chronic Covid — are used to identify COVID-19 manifestations that last two to three months or last longer or develop later.
Regarding the effects of the long COVID, he said that it is not as fatal and hard hit as acute COVID-19 and most are found to improve over time.
“The symptoms are usually mild to moderate, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, difficulty concentrating, joint pain, hair loss, and others.
“But the deterioration in the quality of life of these patients is worrying. From a public health perspective, the burden of disability on adapted life years and economic consequences may be high, which needs to be studied more,” he said.
Dr Shibu Vijayan, Global TB Technical Director at Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, said long-covid is not worse than COVID-19, but may aggravate existing ailments such as diabetes and kidney disease or may result in the onset of these diseases as an infectious disease such as tuberculosis .
“We are seeing more TB cases after COVID.
Dr Vijayan said from Indian studies, it seems that about 30 percent of the hospital cases had long Covid symptoms, such as fatigue, cough, tight chest, breathing, palpitations, myalgia and difficulty focusing.
“It could be related to organ damage, post-viral syndrome, post-critical care syndrome and others,” he said.
Regarding the effectiveness of vaccines against long COVID, Dr Arunesh Kumar, senior consultant and head of pulmonology at Paras Hospitals in Gurgaon, said that about half of people with long COVID reported an improvement in their symptoms after receiving the vaccine.
“Getting a jab can restore the immune response in long COVID or help the body to attack all remaining fragments of the virus,” said Dr. Kumar.
Dr Maroof also said that the prevention of Covid will also prevent long-term Covid.
“That, in a way, is a vaccine also the most important intervention for long-covid. Furthermore, some recent studies have shown that those vaccinated have a lower intensity and duration of long-covid compared to the non-vaccinated. That, first results are promise, “said Dr Maroof.
On the line of treatment for long-term COVID, Dr. Kumar said that a specific treatment is expected in the near future if the real cause or mechanism of the disease is known.
“However, treatment should be multidisciplinary in nature, including primary care providers, such as relevant rehab specialists, social care workers, psychosocial workers, mental health professionals,” he said.
(This is an unedited and automatically generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY contributors may not have modified or edited the content body)
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