Hi 👋,
Friendly reminder that there will be no newsletter for the week of December 26th(next week). Hope everyone who celebrates the holidays enjoys it. I will see you all in the New Year!
For those who do not follow my Twitter, please see here.
📰 Media
At least 7 million people have long COVID. Here's how to support them
From ABCNews:
"Having the sense of community around any chronic illness is fundamental and long COVID is not an exception to this," Dr. Fernando Carnavali, a physician at Mount Sinai's Center for Post-Covid Care, told ABC News. "The sense of community offers to patients the opportunity to discuss" different topics related to their care, he said.
Ives-Rublee recommends creating a financial plan that prepares you for a lengthy illness. Barnett, who thought he would recover quickly, said he's facing financial struggles because he thought he would get better sooner.
My Take: Finding community has been extraordinarily helpful for me & many others. Twitter & Reddit are two extremely popular places.
Health Care — Long COVID linked to thousands of US deaths
From the Hill:
Long COVID-19 has caused or at least contributed to the deaths of more than 3,500 Americans, according to new research released early Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics.
Researchers analyzed the text of death certificates from Jan. 1, 2020, through June 30, 2022, and found 3,544 deaths mentioning key terms such as “chronic COVID,” “long COVID,” “long haul COVID,” or “long hauler COVID.
🔍 Research
A multi-omics based anti-inflammatory immune signature characterizes long COVID-19 syndrome
Catabolism: Catabolism consists of the breakdown of complex molecules into smaller units to produce energy or to be used in anabolic reactions [Source]
From ScienceDirect:
We present evidence suggesting systemic anti-inflammatory conditions in patients with LCS after the acute infection with SARS-CoV-2. A lack of pro-inflammatory activities and the predominance of anti-inflammatory mediators in blood plasma was independently confirmed at the levels of cytokines, acute phase proteins, oxylipins and metabolites.
Apart from this overall pattern of anti-inflammation, the metabolome analyses also provided first indications regarding an aberrant amino acid catabolism in LCS.This observation gives evidence for increased energy consumption from protein breakdown, which is in line with reports of increased muscle weakness
T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 in people with and without neurologic symptoms of long COVID
From MedRxiv:
showed enhanced plasma immunoregulatory proteins and reduced pro-inflammatory and antiviral response proteins in Neuro-PASC patients compared with healthy COVID convalescents, which were also correlated with worse neurocognitive dysfunction
Overall, our study demonstrates that Neuro-PASC patients have elevated IFN-γ responses to internal (Nucleocapsid & Membrane) proteins of SARS-CoV-2, enhanced activation of Tfh cells linked to increased anti-Nucleocapsid antibody production, but impaired activation of CD8+ memory T cells compared with COVID convalescents.
My Take: Interestingly, both of these studies show that Long Covid is a condition marked by a lack of pro-inflammatory responses.
Apparent risks of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome diagnoses after COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-Cov-2 Infection
From Nature:
Here we show, in a cohort of 284,592 COVID-19-vaccinated individuals, using a sequence–symmetry analysis, that the odds of POTS are higher 90 days after vaccine exposure than 90 days before exposure … Our results identify a possible association between COVID-19 vaccination and incidence of POTS.
POTS-related diagnoses appear to be acquired with increased frequency after, compared to before, COVID-19 vaccination, particularly when compared to more commonly diagnosed conditions, but at a rate that is approximately five times lower than after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Genetic risk factors for ME/CFS identified using combinatorial analysis
From BMC:
SNP: A DNA sequence variation that occurs when a single nucleotide (adenine, thymine, cytosine, or guanine) in the genome sequence is altered and the particular alteration is present in at least 1% of the population. [Source]
Combinatorial analysis revealed 199 SNPs mapping to 14 genes that were significantly associated with 91% of the cases in the ME/CFS population.
Investigation of the function and mechanisms of action of these genes (and encoded proteins) revealed associations with one or more of five disease mechanisms that have been associated with ME/CFS development—viral/bacterial susceptibility, autoimmune development, metabolic dysfunction, vulnerability to stress, and sleep disturbance.
My Take: I have always thought my case of Long Covid had some genetic underpinnings. Look forward to more research within this area.
🩺 Hope & Potential Treatments
Potential New Treatment for “Brain Fog” in Long COVID Patients
From Yale:
Yale researchers—using their extensive experience with two existing medications—have published initial evidence that those drugs, given together, can mitigate or even eliminate brain fog.
Guanfacine, one of the two drugs tested in this trial, is designed to strengthen prefrontal cortex connections and protect against inflammation and stress. While originally developed to treat ADHD, it is being used to treat other conditions associated with prefrontal cortex dysfunction, and studies show that the drug is effective in restoring executive functioning and memory. NAC, the second medication, is a robust antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent that can also be used to treat this neural region.
Nasal treatment for neurological symptoms of long COVID under development
From Healio
Biotechnology startup company Camellix has announced the discovery of a green tea-derived polyphenol molecule that may be effective in treating neurological symptoms associated with long COVID, including loss of smell and brain fog.