Scientists seem to have found the reason for the “long-term COVID”: the coronavirus can stop the flow of oxygen through the body for months, causing breathing problems, fatigue and headaches. Experts have found that COVID-19 can cause changes in the “size and stiffness” of blood cells. These changes may also explain the higher risk of blood clots in coronavirus patients.
The researchers say the changes in blood cells caused by the coronavirus may explain why so many patients suffer from “long-term COVID.”
According to the Daily Mail, German researchers have found that the virus changes the size and stiffness of red and white blood cells, making it difficult to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the body. A small study of 55 people showed that these changes can last for months, which may explain why many COVID-19 patients become truckers.
The study authors believe that oxygen deficiency is at the root of the common symptoms that long-term COVID patients suffer from – breathing problems, fatigue and headaches. But these physical changes in blood cells may also explain why some very sick coronavirus patients develop blood clots or organ damage.
Scientists at the Max Planck Center for Physics and Medicine in Germany, who made the discovery, analyzed blood samples from current and former coronavirus patients and compared them to healthy volunteers.
As the Daily Mail reminds, “long-term COVID” is a generic term to encompass symptoms of a coronavirus disease that persist for more than a month.
Most coronavirus patients recover within two weeks, suffering from fever, cough, and loss of smell or taste for several days. However, evidence is emerging that the characteristic symptoms of the virus can persist for weeks in a row in truckers, a term used for patients suffering from long-term complications from COVID-19.
Data from the Covid Symptom Study, developed by King’s College London and the medical company Zoe, shows that one in ten people may have symptoms after three weeks, and some may suffer for months. Long-term symptoms include: chronic fatigue; shortness of breath; increased heart rate; disorientation; strokes; insomnia; loss of taste / smell; kidney disease; mobility problems; headaches; muscle pain; fever.
For patients with more severe illness, Italian researchers who tracked 143 people who were hospitalized with the condition found that nearly 90 percent still had symptoms, including fatigue, two months after the first illness. The most common complaints are fatigue, shortness of breath and joint pain, all of which have been reported during the fight against the disease.
German researchers found that volunteers with coronavirus suffered from poor circulation, limited oxygen supply and blood clots.
“These are all phenomena in which blood cells and their physical properties play a key role,” the scientists said in a June article in the Biophysical Journal.
Scientists examined over four million blood cells from 17 acute COVID patients aged 41 to 87, 14 recovered people aged 27 to 76, and 24 healthy people aged 26 to 81 as a comparison group.
The researchers measured the shape of the red and white blood cells using a microscopic camera and analyzed the data on a computer. Red blood cells, vital for transporting oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, have been found to vary greatly in size and shape in patients with COVID. Experts believe that this causes the blood to become clumpy, making it difficult to deliver oxygen to the body. In addition, they found that the size and shape of white blood cells – a key part of the immune system – were also deformed in COVID patients.
Researchers believe that a combination of damage to both red and white blood cells causes “long-term COVID.”
As the Daily Mail notes, official figures have shown that hundreds of thousands of people across the UK are suffering from “long-term COVID”. In May, it was discovered that about a million people in the country were suffering from symptoms that last more than four weeks after contracting the coronavirus, according to the Office for National Statistics. An estimated 385,000 people were struggling with persistent symptoms that have not gone away since last summer.
About two-thirds of people with “long-term COVID” said the condition limits their ability to perform daily activities. Symptoms include organ failure, fatigue, shortness of breath, hair loss, and brain fog.
Fatigue is considered the most common symptom, affecting an estimated 535,000 people, followed by shortness of breath, affecting 397,000, and muscle pain, affecting 309,000. Previous studies have estimated that up to two million people in England alone may experience persistent symptoms after contracting COVID-19.
Read also: “It’s too early to rejoice: the pitfalls of COVID certificates in Europe are exposed”
.