We might be closer to finding quick ways to diagnose and treat long covid

livemint.com:

A new study published this week in Science makes a compelling case that people with long covid have a chronic imbalance in their immune response. The findings don’t explain why that immune response is out of whack, and needs confirming in larger studies. This is important new piece to the vexing puzzle that is long covid.

One of the challenges with diagnosing and treating long covid is the ways it can manifest: brain fog, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and headaches, to name just a few. A common biomarker across people experiencing such different symptoms could indicate a path towards a diagnostic test. The work could even lead to new treatment strategies.

A sharp focus on tests and treatments for long covid has never been more critical. As we approach the fifth year of living with this viral illness, the virus has issued one of its regular reminders that it’s not going anywhere: Hospitalizations and deaths in the US have been ticking up since early November, and wastewater data suggest the country is experiencing the biggest peak in cases in more than a year. Each wave risks adding to the already massive number of people experiencing long-term effects of their infection.

The most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed that 8.8 million people in the US were living with long covid in 2022. New preliminary data, reported in Medscape, shows that nearly 1,500 people died from long covid last year. Some health experts expect long covid to account for an increasing portion of overall covid deaths.