Manali Mukherjee, who led the study and is a respiratory researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, said two specific abnormal antibodies, or autoantibodies, which attack healthy tissue and are known to cause autoimmune diseases, persist in about 30 percent of patients a year later. they got infected. The research was based on blood samples from patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between August 2020 and September 2021 and treated at two hospitals in Vancouver and another in Hamilton. Persistence of autoantibodies for a year or more indicates the need for patients to see a specialist who could screen for signs of autoimmune disease, he said, for conditions that also include type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. “If you have lingering COVID symptoms, even 12 months after infection, consider getting a rheumatologic test, just to make sure there’s not a trajectory toward systemic disease,” Mukherjee said. The study, which also involved Dr. Chris Carlsten, of the University of British Columbia’s department of respiratory medicine, published Thursday in the European Respiratory Journal and involved 106 patients. The work supports emerging research on long-term COVID, which primarily affects women, Mukherjee said. A study of 300 patients published earlier this year in the journal Cell by researchers in the United States was the first to show that autoantibodies among those infected with the virus can lead to long-term COVID symptoms, but it was limited to three to four months after the recovery. , Mukherjee said. A Swiss study of 90 patients published last April in the journal Allergy showed that autoantibodies may be present a year after infection in 40 percent of patients. “But this study confirms the presence of specific autoantibodies and further correlates them with the persistence of fatigue and dyspnea, two key long-term symptoms of COVID, at 12 months,” he said. Mukherjee, who contracted COVID-19 for a long time in January 2021 after starting her research on the disease, said she experienced fatigue, shortness of breath, headaches and brain fog. “The headaches used to be so bad and they come back. You’ll be fine, and then all of a sudden, you’ll have a relapse,” she said, adding that she’s back to about 75 percent of her usual energy level, but has learned to prioritize her health over long hours. work and makes sure he gets enough sleep. Mukherjee is now studying COVID-19 patients for two years to see how their autoantibody levels change over the long term. Calgary resident Sarah Olson said chronic COVID-19 has prevented her from returning to her job as a preschool teacher since contracting the disease in January 2021. “There’s no such thing as pushing through. You just get sicker and sicker in new ways,” said Olson, who has a nine-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter and deals with brain fog, fatigue and difficulty. breathing and other symptoms. “Until this spring, I couldn’t stand still for long, but I could walk at a moderate pace. Now, I can’t do that anymore. I need a walker. I’ll be 41 this Saturday and I need a walker.” Olson said she has also been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis, or chronic fatigue syndrome, although Mukherjee said a definitive link between that debilitating, long-term condition and long-term COVID has not been established. Olson said the main concern is that she will never recover from the long COVID. “If I’m not able to manage my symptoms by resting and pacing as needed, never stressing, then I have every reason to believe I’m going to continue to get worse,” she said through tears. “Research has to make some breakthrough because they’re still trying to figure out what the underlying cause is,” Olson said, adding that it could mean treatment options are a long way off. “It’s been almost three years and we’re still in the dark in a lot of ways.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 22, 2022.
