After 6 months, 50% of mild and moderate COVID patients have symptoms-study

A new study published by Israeli researchers shows that nearly 50% of people with mild or moderate cases of COVID-19 still have symptoms six months later. The study is scheduled to be published this month in the “Clinical Microbiology” Published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology. In the six months from April 2020 to October 2020, 103 people over the age of 18 were infected with the coronavirus and their infection status was assessed. These people had mild to moderate symptoms, which meant they had no symptoms and were not hospitalized due to severe illness. Participants received up to four interviews during the study. “The frightening thing is that six months later, young people who are healthy and feel good before the coronavirus infection still have symptoms,”

; said Dr. Sarah Israel of Hadassah University. The medical center, who assisted in writing the report. After six months, 46% of patients had at least one symptom unresolved, the most common being fatigue (22%), changes in smell and taste (15%) or difficulty breathing (8%). Studies have shown that 44% of people have headaches. Their first symptoms of COVID are 41% fever, 39% muscle soreness and 38% dry cough, usually around the second day of the onset of the disease. However, many of these symptoms can be resolved relatively quickly. In contrast, the odor and taste changes that usually occur around the fourth day after the onset of disease are the longest lasting.

A total of 14 symptoms were included in the final analysis. As of December 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has listed 12 symptoms as COVID-19 symptoms. These symptoms include changes in taste, smell, fever, dry cough, prolific cough, muscle aches, headaches, runny nose, sore throat, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, vomiting or nausea. In addition, participants (53%) complained of non-CDC symptoms and loss of appetite. Finally, fatigue, which is now classified as a symptom of CDC, did not clearly appear in the original questionnaire, but was self-reported by 18% of patients under “any other symptoms”. Israel said these patients include memory loss, hair loss and depression-“It is difficult to understand why patients experience these symptoms after COVID.” The report explains, “Long-term COVID has gradually become a long-term unresolved phenomenon for patients. Symptoms. These may be COVID The long-term symptoms of -19 may also be post-COVID syndrome that suggests autonomic nervous system dysfunction, although further research is needed to determine the cause.” As mentioned earlier, in terms of underlying medical conditions, most patients are infected The virus was usually healthy before. Two of them have high blood pressure, six have respiratory diseases, two have heart disease and 16 have clinical obesity. The report explains that this study does have some limitations, including the method of data collection used in the study (calling patients at different intervals) may lead to recall bias. In addition, patients are recruited through social networks and word of mouth, and therefore constitute an older population with a higher income and education level. Israel hopes that the information in the report will enable doctors to better understand the health of COVID-19 in the long term. disease. She also hopes that this will encourage young people to get vaccinated. She said: “I think people now know that this is not a virus that is easy to get infected.” “Even if you hardly get sick, this virus will infect you in a few months.” Compared with the symptoms of the virus, the vaccine produces The risk of side effects is small. Israel added that more work should be done to assess whether asymptomatic patients recover from similar symptoms. She also said that the research team hopes to continue to investigate the people participating in this study to determine when their existing symptoms disappear.