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By Kate Kelland
LONDON, Feb.24 (Reuters) – Thousands of COVID-19 patients continue to suffer from severe, debilitating and persistent symptoms several months after their first episode of infection, with major social, health and economic consequences, said Thursday European health experts.
Releasing a World Health Organization-led policy report on the disease, often referred to as “long COVID syndrome” or “post-COVID syndrome,” experts said about one in 10 COVID-19 patients is still ill 12 weeks after her acute infection, and many suffer from symptoms for much longer.
“It is a condition that can be extremely debilitating. Those who suffer from it describe a varying combination of overlapping symptoms … (including) chest and muscle pain, fatigue, shortness of breath … brain fog (and) well d ‘others,’ said Martin McKee, professor at the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies who led the report.
Hans Kluge, WHO’s European regional director, said long-term COVID could have “serious social, economic, health and occupational consequences.”
“The burden is real and significant,” he said.
He urged health officials to listen to patients’ concerns, take them seriously, and set up services to help them.
Growing evidence from around the world indicates that several thousand people suffer from long-lasting COVID. The condition does not appear to be related to whether a patient has had a severe or mild infection.
An initial report from Britain’s National Institute for Health Research last year suggested that the long-lasting COVID may not be a condition, but several syndromes causing a roller coaster of symptoms affecting the body and mind.
Kluge noted that, as with any new illness, a lot remains unknown about COVID-19.
“We have to listen and … understand. People with post-COVID conditions have to be heard if we are to understand the long-term consequences and recovery from COVID-19,” he said. “This is a clear priority for WHO (and) it should be for all health authorities.” (Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva. Editing by Nick Macfie)
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