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As vaccines mitigate the threat of serious illness and death from Covid-19, millions of people remain at risk of developing a less severe but potentially debilitating array of long-term symptoms of the disease that scientists call long-term Covid.
Most of the most vulnerable are found among unvaccinated youth who are unprotected against the Delta variant of the rapidly spreading coronavirus, now responsible for more than 80% of the growing caseload in the United States.
Long Covid – a term for symptoms that persist for weeks or months beyond infection – affects between 10% and 30% of people who catch the virus, including those with mild or asymptomatic infections, depending on the population. experts. In some cases, symptoms persist for more than a year.
“While it’s not as striking as the people who die, you ignore it at your peril,” said Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London. “In terms of the burden or cost of health care, we’re on track to make it as big a problem for us as rheumatoid arthritis, the world’s largest autoimmune disease. “
Despite a strong vaccine rollout, many Americans are not vaccinated or are only partially vaccinated. Cases are rising again as states relax restrictions and the highly transmissible Delta variant spreads. This increase will not cause as many cases of serious illness or death as in previous waves, thanks to strong vaccination among the oldest and most vulnerable. But that could lead to tens of thousands of new cases of long Covid, even by conservative estimates.
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