Covid Long Haulers: Statistics Show Potential for Serious Health Issue

[bhobba]

Then it could be beneficial to take some control of that environment with yogurts

I have diabetes and eat a lot of greek yogurts because it is low in carbs. You're not kidding it can have an effect on your gut. Beneficial? I have to take the word of experts who assure me it is.

Thanks
Bill

 

[Astronuc]

Long Covid: I'll take trial drugs because I want my life back​

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-61338227

I read a story yesterday about a teacher in Alabama who had a seizure in the classroom and was then found to be suffering from COVID-19.

My wife just read another story about cognitive impairment due to COVID. Seems that some 50-somethings are experiencing cognitive declines that one would expect in 70-somethings.

 

[Astronuc]

COVID raises risk of long-term brain injury, large U.S. study finds​

https://news.yahoo.com/covid-raises-risk-long-term-150329709.html

CHICAGO (Reuters) - People who had COVID-19 are at higher risk for a host of brain injuries a year later compared with people who were never infected by the coronavirus, a finding that could affect millions of Americans, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

The year-long study, published in Nature Medicine, assessed brain health across 44 different disorders using medical records without patient identifiers from millions of U.S. veterans.

Brain and other neurological disorders occurred in 7% more of those who had been infected with COVID compared with a similar group of veterans who had never been infected. That translates into roughly 6.6 million Americans who had brain impairments linked with their COVID infections, the team said.

"The results show the devastating long-term effects of COVID-19," senior author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly of Washington University School of Medicine said in a statement.

. . .

 

[pinball1970]

@kyphysics has started a new thread so Ill post on both

From this paper

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02001-z

and worth noting that...

"Because we aimed to examine outcomes at 12 months, our cohorts were enrolled before 15 January 2021 (before SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were widely available in the US), and less than 1% of people in the COVID-19 group and contemporary control group were vaccinated before T0. Our subgroup analyses were designed to estimate the risk of outcomes in each subgroup, the strength of the association for any specific outcome may not be necessarily comparable across subgroups."

 

[bhobba]

and worth noting that...

What worries me about the issue is early this year, as Omicron was taking over from Delta on the Gold Coast near where I live (to these overseas, it is a bit north of Byron Bay where many celebrities like Chris Hemsworth live); random Covid tests were done. It was found 90% did not even know they had it. This could become a major health issue once Covid becomes just one more bug circulating in the community, like the Flu. It also is why it is essential to get vaccinated because while it does not prevent getting Covid, it reduces its severity and the time you are infectious, reducing your chance of infecting others if you have it and do not know it.

Thanks
Bill

 

[jedishrfu]

Isn't that area where Chris Hemsworth lives known as Valhalla / Asgard ?

 

[morrobay]

What worries me about the issue is early this year, as Omicron was taking over from Delta on the Gold Coast near where I live (to these overseas, it is a bit north of Byron Bay where many celebrities like Chris Hemsworth live); random Covid tests were done. It was found 90% did not even know they had it. This could become a major health issue once Covid becomes just one more bug circulating in the community, like the Flu. It also is why it is essential to get vaccinated because while it does not prevent getting Covid, it reduces its severity and the time you are infectious, reducing your chance of infecting others if you have it and do not know it.

Thanks
Bill

So 90% did not even know they had it. Reason to get vaccinated ? Why not quite while ahead.

 

[pinball1970]

So 90% did not even know they had it. Reason to get vaccinated ? Why not quite while ahead.

I don't quite understand your post. You ARE saying it is best to get vaccinated yes?

 

[morrobay]

I don't quite understand your post. You ARE saying it is best to get vaccinated yes?

Unnecessary to get vaccinated. 1. Such a mild illness not noticeable. 2. Those that had it have produced antibody natural immunity. Of course that is my biased opinion. I am un-vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2. I'm sure I've been exposed, but not infected. Have also had antibody test. Negative .Having said that I'm sure the vaccines have saved lives.

 

[jedishrfu]

But sadly without the vaccine you can be considered a carrier like Typhoid Mary giving COVID to others.

NOVA did a great show on this talking about herd immunity where the more people who are vaccinated protect those who can't get vaccinated due to some medical condition. It opened with a young child who was allergic to eggs and couldn't get vaccinated for that reason.

It followed up the discussion with a doctor talking about the many diseases that were so deadly a generation before that we all get vaccinations for now. They were truly horrible diseases.

Then it got into the mothers trying to second guess their doctors, delaying their kids vaccine shots and questioning the need. These same mothers were vaccinated as kids and that maybe why they're alive today and yet they question those same vaccines.

Some mothers were concerned about the connection between autism and vaccines because a shady British doctor, Andrew Wakefield published a paper saying that, in an effort to win a class action court case (claiming that the MMR vaccine was suspect and that single vaccines for Measles, Mumps and Rubella was better) in England trying to win damages for some families.

Wakefield was paid by the class action lawyer to run the study, had patents in a Measles shot and used questionable practices in his paper. He lostvas the facts came out, his coauthors requested a retraction and his paper was stricken from the medical journal, The Lancet for his deception but it endures in the conspiracy theories of our day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_MMR_autism_fraud

The result of all this are recent reports of college kids coming down with meningitis at school or the discovery of polio in the sewers of major cities, a disease supposedly wiped out a couple of decades ago all because people doubt the science.

https://time.com/5175704/andrew-wakefield-vaccine-autism/

I fear for humanity, we are our own worst enemy when we don't trust scientific community but fail back on conspiracy theories and rumor with no basis in fact to make our decisions.

Please get vaccinated if you are able to and don't be a Typhoid Mary infecting others.

 

[pinball1970]

Unnecessary to get vaccinated. 1. Such a mild illness not noticeable. 2. Those that had it have produced antibody natural immunity. Of course that is my biased opinion. I am un-vaccinated for SARS-CoV-2. I'm sure I've been exposed, but not infected. Have also had antibody test. Negative .Having said that I'm sure the vaccines have saved lives.

Your post does not make sense to me. You say vaccination is unnecessary but that it also saves lives.
Not required but can save your life?
Also this thread is about long covid, the list of symptoms in the paper are listed and some of those are debilitating and possibly permanent. It is only a few months since the UK officially dropped all social distancing and other measures, they do not know all the details yet.
How long is long covid?
Is it really worth the risk of not being vaccinated?
Knowing that the vaccines reduce all the risks? Including transmission?

 

[morrobay]

Your post does not make sense to me. You say vaccination is unnecessary but that it also saves lives.
Not required but can save your life?

My first reply ,post #37, was in reference to post#35 by bhobba : 'It was found that 90%* did not even know they had it.' In my post #37 I said basically it is not necessary to get vaccinated for such a mild illness. Then my post #39 in reply to your post #38 is multiple tracked . 1 . Not necessary for those referred to in post #35 to get vaccinated *. 2. The vaccines save lives with those with comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, obese, kidney disease,and so on. 3. Like I said before I'm sure I have been exposed many times but not infected. Maybe from T cell cross reactive immunity. And it also helps to be type O neg. and have BMI about 21.5. Search for exposure without infection.

 

[pinball1970]

My first reply ,post #37, was in reference to post#35 by bhobba : 'It was found that 90%* did not even know they had it.' In my post #37 I said basically it is not necessary to get vaccinated for such a mild illness. Then my post #39 in reply to your post #38 is multiple tracked . 1 . Not necessary for those referred to in post #35 to get vaccinated *. 2. The vaccines save lives with those with comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, obese, kidney disease,and so on. 3. Like I said before I'm sure I have been exposed many times but not infected. Maybe from T cell cross reactive immunity. And it also helps to be type O neg. and have BMI about 21.5. Search for exposure without infection.View attachment 314639

Of the 90% who did not realize they had had it, how many of those had been vaccinated?
When Omicron hit the vast majority of people over 30 were double vaccinated. In the UK at least.

 

[Tom.G]

It turns out that some people have a genetic mutation that allows then to fight off COVID before there are any symptoms!

For details see this thread:
https://www.physicsforums.com/posts/6804102/

 

[bhobba]

So 90% did not even know they had it. Reason to get vaccinated ? Why not quite while ahead.

The reason to get vaccinated is it reduces the severity and length of time you are infectious. If the majority of people are just getting on with life and do not know they are infectious, being vaccinated reduces your chance of passing it on, hence the effective R (the reproduction number). I don't know by how much but mask wearing does by 20%, handwashing and cleaning surfaces etc 30% (estimated for other diseases like the flu). None of them works by themselves, but when combined, does meaningfully reduce the chance of getting Covid - hopefully, to the point of R is less than 1, which is the goal. If less than 1, it will die out. The average effective reproduction number for Omicron is 3.4, ranging from 0.88 to 9.4 (median 2.8). The highest R0 of 24 from South Africa is a theoretical ceiling assuming no immune evasion. At a guess, I would say that taken together, all these measures may just get the effective reproduction number under 1; after all, it is in some places. Certainly, here in Aus, as summer approaches, infection numbers are falling significantly:
https://www.health.gov.au/health-alerts/covid-19/case-numbers-and-statistics

Thanks
Bill

 

[Ernest Brennecke]

Does 0 + blood type increase natural immunity / decrease vulnerability?
(Unvaccinated, but w O+ blood type, I had COVID 19, was administered monoclonal antibodies & 3 days later doing well - despite walking 3.5 miles/day. No long haul symptoms, only a 4 day virus recently 4 months later.

 

[bhobba]

Does 0 + blood type increase natural immunity / decrease vulnerability?

Of course. You had Covid, so have antibodies and hence some immunity. It is recommended you still get vaccinated. I seem to recall, but don't hold me to it, that both vaccination and immunity from having it is the best immunity of all. Keep in mind, though, if you actually get Covid you have a chance of getting long covid. Precisely what that chance is, and how long it will last, my understanding is further research is needed.

Thanks
Bill

 

[pinball1970]

This week an article on long Covid.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-covid-impact-fatigue-quality-life.html

A study on the effect of S protein on neurons

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-covid-brain-cells-fuse.html