Covid-19: Impact of long term symptoms will be profound, warns BMA
BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3218 (Published 13 August 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m3218Read our latest coverage of the coronavirus outbreak
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Dear Editor,
What is the timeframe for defining long-term or chronic symptoms from COVID-19?
Couldn't locate a definition when going through the August 13 survey results
https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/covid-19/what-the-bma-is-doing...
https://www.bma.org.uk/media/3070/bma-covid-tracker-survey-full-results-...
Thanks,
Sanjiv K
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Editor,
Not all can heave a sigh of relief on being 'successfully' treated for covid. 'Long' convalescence has been reported. Persistence of 'mild' symptoms - weakness, lethargy - tend to be fairly common. Worse still, the wagging tail does not stop at that. Residual effects and 'sequelae' along the entire neuraxis - along with higher functions - are increasingly observed, necessitating follow up, data registry and records. Similarly pulmonary structural effects - fibrosis - have been observed. The clinical course of covid continues to remain an open chapter as is its therapeutics.
Dr Murar E Yeolekar, Mumbai.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Editor
Post COVID-19 Neuropsychological Effects.
About 1 in 3 patients recovering from COVID-19 could experience neurological or psychological after effects of their infections due to lasting impact on the brain.
These after COVID-19 longer problems may present as fatigue, tiredness, body pain, muscle pain, headache, dizziness, mood disorders like aanxiety depression, sleep problems, cognitive dissonance, tremors lingering loss of smell or taste.
It may also present with difficulty in walking due to muscles weakness, nerves damages or due to paralysis.
During COVID-19 infection, the brain can be affected and results in stroke, dementia like syndromes and psychosis.
Post COVID-19 patients can also have lasting damage to their heart, kidneys and liver due to inflammation and blood coagulation problems.
Sometimes these patients can present like post traumatic stress disorder and mental health problems.
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Covid-19: Impact of long term symptoms will be profound, warns BMA
Dear Editor,
A simple question:
What is the difference between so-called long-term Covid and postviral fatigue syndrome? Everything I have read so far suggests they are the same thing, and if so to treat "Long Covid" as some special phenomenon seems misplaced.
Competing interests: No competing interests