It has been one of the greatest COVID-19 pandemic mysteries: Why do some individuals endure terrible symptoms that last for months after the initial infection has resolved? And what can be done to assist persons with “long COVID”?
The National Institutes of Health hopes to start its first large clinical studies of prospective therapies for people with long-term COVID-19 symptoms as early as October, according to a senior federal official in charge of the planning.
As part of the Biden administration’s reaction to the millions of people suffering from long-term COVID, measures are anticipated to increase in the next months.
“We’re aiming to begin something significant around October or November. We may begin something little sooner in order to conduct a test run. It depends on how the tests function “The head of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Dr. Walter Koroshetz, explains.
Koroshetz is a member of the team that has led the NIH’s RECOVER program to investigate the vast array of residual symptoms categorized as “long COVID” or “post-COVID” illnesses.
Among these symptoms include weariness, shortness of breath, cough, “brain fog,” sleeplessness, diarrhea, and loss of smell.
Koroshetz told CBS News that RECOVER has already engaged over 7,000 people and conducted 50 autopsies to gain a deeper grasp of the disease’s enduring consequences.
Initially following a positive test, it has been more difficult to enroll individuals to examine their recovery over time.
Koroshetz stated, “They’re not going to hospitals, which is frequently where we have the finest enrollment opportunities, and they’re also not going to doctors because of home testing.”
Similar to the agency’s “master protocol” studies, which evaluated treatments reducing the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19, Koroshetz states that the agency has been working for months to launch large-scale trials for drugs that may be able to treat some of the underlying causes for long-term symptoms.
One intriguing aspect of this research is the potential efficacy of drugs for individuals whose symptoms are now believed to be the result of the virus remaining in the body and stubbornly attacking patients months after their initial positive test.
Before studying these medications, it will be necessary to determine whether or not they are effective at eradicating latent SARS-CoV-2 infections. Long-lasting virus cannot account for all COVID symptoms. Scientists believe the causes are diverse, with some patients experiencing prolonged symptoms as a result of organ damage from the original infection or an overactive immune response that remains after the virus appears to have been eliminated.
“If you just throw anything at a bunch of patients with post-COVID, you’d have to be incredibly lucky to observe anything because of the heterogeneity of this, and because you don’t know what you’re targeting, you have no means of determining a dose or duration,” Koroshetz said.
Koroshetz said that the NIH is also working on a number of additional procedures and projects to discover novel therapies for the vast spectrum of COVID symptoms. These include treatment for concentration concerns and medications that may be used to treat cardiac abnormalities.
In the meanwhile, federal researchers said they intend to accelerate their efforts to aid patients in managing and treating their chronic illnesses.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs intends to intensify its efforts to coordinate how its clinicians care for COVID patients across the whole system.
Its new Long COVID Clinic Practice Based Research Network is to begin collecting standardized data on their long COVID patients, which the department thinks will help answer critical diagnostic and therapy problems. In addition, they intend to fund numerous studies of their own, which are being submitted this month by doctors from across the VA’s facilities, according to a spokesman for CBS News.
The V.A. also recently produced a handbook for physicians caring for veterans with long-term symptoms, estimated to range between 24,000 and 42,000.
The authors of the book noted, “At the time of writing, it is predicted that 4-7% of persons diagnosed with COVID-19, or 2% of the U.S. population, will acquire Long COVID.”
Nonetheless, the authors highlighted that estimates of the incidence of extended COVID symptoms continue to differ greatly depending on how they are measured globally.
Surveys indicate that in the United Kingdom, 2.8% of the population, or around 1.8 million people, are suffering symptoms that have persisted longer than a month following their infection.
According to June statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Census Bureau, 7.5% of individuals polled in the United States report having symptoms that have lasted at least three months after contracting the virus.
The CDC’s continuing National Health Interview Survey, which is scheduled to conclude data collection by the end of this year, is projected to produce further estimates by the summer of 2020.
Headaches, loss of taste or smell, and runny nose are the most often reported symptoms one year after infection survival, according to the INSPIRE cohort research funded by the CDC.
It is difficult to determine how much of this is the product of the infection. While 29.9% of individuals who tested positive for COVID reported these symptoms one year later, the same percentage of those who tested negative did so as well.
The Biden administration has vowed to conduct further study on extended COVID, including improved surveillance of its incidence and treatment options. Officials have requested funding for their “ambitious aims,” including a new permanent office to coordinate the work of many agencies.
Congress has already set aside certain funds to combat lengthy COVID, including $1.15 billion in December 2020 that led to the establishment of the RECOVER effort.
Despite previous long-stalled COVID-19 demands from the White House, Senator Tim Kaine expressed optimism that Capitol Hill may be able to provide more funds to the matter.
The Virginia Democrat told CBS News earlier this month, “In terms of the nonpartisan aspect of this, in the long COVID area, I feel like I have very solid support on both sides of the aisle, in both chambers.”
Kaine, who has discussed his own long-term COVID symptoms, was one of three Democrats who introduced a measure in March to support more long-term COVID efforts. Senate Democrats presented funding legislation for next year last month, which include ideas to support more research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Obviously, the budget legislation have not yet reached the president’s desk.
Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican, condemned the ideas as “loaded with poison pills” and “wasteful, off-budget expenditure” in a statement released at the end of last month.
Kaine stated that he continues to hear from others who, like himself, continue to experience long-lasting COVID symptoms. He feels that this relationship might generate more support for funding research and therapies.
Kaine stated, “I have no trouble convincing my colleagues that this is a top priority.”