Scientists gathered this week to unpack what we all know concerning the underlying explanation for lengthy COVID and potential therapies.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
It is one of many greatest medical mysteries to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. Why do some individuals recover from COVID whereas others are plagued with continual signs for months and even years? This week, researchers got here collectively to take inventory of the progress science has made in direction of understanding lengthy COVID. NPR’s Will Stone was there and joins us from Santa Fe, N.M. Hello.
WILL STONE, BYLINE: Hello, Ari.
SHAPIRO: Why was this lengthy COVID assembly a giant deal?
STONE: Yeah, this was actually science in motion. It is one of many first main gatherings of researchers from world wide targeted on what’s driving lengthy COVID and potential therapies. It was held by the nonprofit Keystone Symposia. And since lengthy COVID is such a wide-ranging illness – many various manifestations, affecting every kind of organs and techniques within the physique – that is truly attracted researchers with every kind of backgrounds. So this was an opportunity for them to get in a room, in lots of instances to satisfy in individual for the primary time and share their findings and attempt to chart a path ahead.
SHAPIRO: And what does that appear to be? It looks as if we have been listening to for years that scientists are chipping away at this.
STONE: Yeah, to be clear, Ari, there may be nonetheless a number of work to be carried out to grasp the underlying causes of lengthy COVID. There isn’t any one check that a physician can run and say, OK, you’ve gotten lengthy COVID. There is not but a single confirmed remedy for the situation. And I believe listening to all of that may make issues really feel a bit hopeless, particularly for the sufferers who’re affected by this situation. However I’ll inform you, from being right here the previous few days, there’s a number of power going towards this. And one scientist I spoke to within the hallway throughout shows was Akiko Iwasaki. She’s at Yale College. And she or he stated it is a nice steadiness, you realize, shifting quick on analysis and nonetheless being deliberate.
AKIKO IWASAKI: I completely perceive how annoyed sufferers are. The truth of biomedical analysis is that it takes time. Even to get a protocol up and operating, we now have to get approval from the appropriate regulatory companies and all that. So we’re attempting very, very onerous to do that as quickly as potential.
SHAPIRO: So Will, the place are scientists precisely within the strategy of attending to the foundation of lengthy COVID?
STONE: So to sum it up, I would say the scientific journey with lengthy COVID began with first, merely recognizing it is an actual medical situation that must be studied, then describing it, defining it, then producing theories about what may very well be driving the signs. And scientists have now gathered fairly a little bit of proof on these completely different theories. A few of the outstanding ones which have been mentioned at this assembly – there’s viral persistence. That is the concept the coronavirus or elements of the virus hand around in the physique after the acute sickness. There’s additionally a number of proof exhibiting immune dysfunction – autoimmunity in some sufferers. One other is that it appears some viruses individuals had earlier than COVID – particularly the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes mono – are being reactivated, and the physique’s truly responding to that. There’s additionally large curiosity within the penalties of irritation – particularly, the position of small blood clots known as microclots that may be noticed in lengthy COVID sufferers. So all of those theories are at play.
SHAPIRO: That is so many various theories. Any sense of which one is most definitely?
STONE: Not but, and it is necessary to notice that none of those are essentially mutually unique. Some will be interrelated. There’s proof some may very well be taking place in some sufferers, not others. In truth, there was fascinating analysis offered right here indicating there may very well be variations between what is going on on in feminine sufferers versus male sufferers. So the underside line is scientists have these completely different traces of proof about potential mechanisms. Which of these are literally driving the signs? – we do not actually know but. And, in fact, the reply can have implications for remedy. Proper now, treating lengthy COVID is everywhere. There at the moment are some focused scientific trials beginning up that can assist check a few of these theories about what’s behind the illness.
SHAPIRO: NPR’s Will Stone reporting from Santa Fe. Thanks.
STONE: Thanks.
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