Long Covid Weekly: August 13th - August 20th
Long-term psychiatric risks of covid, T-Cell immunity & more
Thumbnail Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Hi everyone,
Not as jam packed of a week as last week but still some very impactful new cames out.
As always, Here is my Twitter. Let’s get into this weeks news!
Research
SARS CoV-2 detected in neonatal stool remote from maternal COVID-19 during pregnancy
TL;DR: Study found SARS-CoV-2 RNA + Spike protein in the stool of 11/14 newborn babies born to mothers who had covid resolve 10+ weeks before delivery… the infection elicited elevated inflammatory IL-6 + IFN-γ from macrophages.
Neurological and psychiatric risk trajectories after SARS-CoV-2 infection: an analysis of 2-year retrospective cohort studies including 1 284 437 patients
TL;DR:
“What they found: Adults who were 64 years old and younger who'd had the coronavirus were more at risk of brain fog (640 cases per 10,000 people) compared with those who'd had different respiratory infections (550 cases per 10,000 people).
There were 1,540 cases of brain fog per 10,000 people in patients who were 65 years old and older who'd had COVID, compared with 1,230 cases per 10,000 for those with other respiratory infections.
Meanwhile, there were 450 cases of dementia per 10,000 people and 85 occurrences of psychotic disorders per 10,000 among patients over 65 post-COVID.
For other respiratory infections in this age group there were 330 cases per 10,000 for dementia and 60 cases per 10,000 for psychotic disorders.
Worth noting: Researchers found children were twice as likely to develop epilepsy or seizures (260 in 10,000) within two years of a COVID infection, compared to those who'd had other respiratory infections (130 in 10,000).” (summarized by axios)
SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in the changing landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tl;DR: “the impact that SARS-CoV-2- specific CD8+ or CD4+ 6 T cells exert in the protection from disease development remains ambivalent.”
“The mutations accumulated by the different SARS-CoV-2 lineages within Spike and other proteins do not fully escape the recognition of the broad repertoire of T cells induced by infection or by vaccination. However, this does not mean that 7 some mutations could not abolish T cell recognition of selected epitopes and that these mutations might 9 not, in selected individuals induce a substantial reduction of T cell recognition.”
Transient receptor potential melastatin 3 dysfunction in post COVID-19 condition and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome patients
Useful Definition: Transient receptor potential melastatin 3 channel (TRPM3) is a .. channel that plays an important role in modulating glucose homeostasis in the pancreatic beta cells. (source)
TL;DR: “The results of this investigation suggest that post COVID-19 condition patients may have impaired TRPM3 ion channel function and provide further evidence regarding the similarities between post COVID-19 condition and ME/CFS”
Side Note: I am interested to see further studies into this, as the implications of this I am unaware of.
Media
Biden’s long Covid plan is a good start. But it needs to go further
TL;DR: “To do the greatest good, the administration’s action plan will require the right kind of leadership. Three guideposts should inform how this plan is executed and communicated.”
“Use a disability lens. We believe that long Covid must be viewed as a disability, and actions across all federal agencies should be viewed through that lens.”
“Look to similar post-infectious diseases. Valuable lessons can be learned from post-infectious diseases that long Covid often resembles: myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or mast cell activation syndrome.”
“Employ patient-centered communication and implementation. Efforts to understand and address long Covid must not just validate the experiences of people with it but must lean on their wisdom as a vital part of the policymaking process.”
Is Oxygen the Answer to Long Covid?
TL;DR: “It’s called hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and in July Israeli researchers published a study … that showed using this technique to deliver massive amounts of oxygen to the body appears to alleviate many of Covid’s cognitive and physical after-effects.”
“Breathing in concentrated oxygen under pressure raises the amount of it that dissolves in the blood, meaning that more oxygen gets delivered throughout the body’s tissues. This can then boost the power of the immune system and stimulate the release of stem cells and substances called growth factors, which help tissues heal.”
Not really a media piece but an interesting (& scary) hypothetical poised by Stuart Jones. Defintely worth a read.
Hope
MediciNova Reaches Agreement to Participate in Grant-Funded Clinical Trial to Evaluate MN-166 (ibudilast) for the Treatment of Long COVID
Another clinical trial in the works!