If broadly adopted, this inclusive description of long COVID will help legitimize the ongoing struggles millions of people are facing post-infection.
A sweeping new definition of long COVID could help affected people get recognition of their condition and improve diagnosis and treatment.That lack of standardization “left many patients in the lurch without clear ability to be recognized for the condition that they had, with difficulty explaining to family and even to their caregivers,” says Harvey Fineberg, a public health expert who chaired the committee that drafted the definition.
According to the National Academies’ definition, long COVID is a medical condition that persists for at least three months after an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Long COVID can affect any organ or system in the body. People may have any of more than 200 symptoms, which may include difficulty breathing,).
There are no blood tests or biomarkers that doctors can use to reliably diagnose long COVID right now. The report calls for continued research to find such diagnostic tools. “I think they got it right in the sense that they didn’t leave anybody out,” says Ziyad Al-Aly, head of research at the VA Saint Louis Health Care System. Al-Aly was one of the independent experts who reviewed the report.Yes. The report calls for revision of the definition in no more than three years and possibly sooner if new science warrants it.
Not requiring a positive test to be diagnosed with long COVID “is huge” for Oller, who has no proof that she was infected with SARS-CoV-2 in early 2020. “We couldn’t get tested. There were long lines, and you needed symptoms that I didn’t have.”
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