Long Covid could have nasty sting in its tail

For some New Zealanders, the end of the pandemic looks a lot further away than a vaccine syringe. They are Covid-19 survivors left with damaged bodies, and others still experiencing symptoms, months after contracting the coronavirus.

People who have had severe or still ongoing cases of the virus, can experience symptoms including fatigue, headaches, chest pain, joint pain, insomnia, problems with breathing, a chronic cough, brain “fog”, depression, a loss of taste and smell and areas of numbness.

University of Otago molecular biologist Emeritus Professor Warren Tate has said that many of those with “long Covid” have similar symptoms to chronic fatigue syndrome.

Closing the borders early on in the pandemic reduced the number of deaths and infections from Covid in New Zealand.

But the constant stream of Kiwis returning home over the past year has included some who have found the effects of the virus hard to throw off.

The Ministry of Health is seeking proposals for research into the impacts of the condition. Several researchers are studying it here.

Work will be needed to estimate the likely extent of the problem and the impact on health services. Patients are likely to need specialist assessments and rehabilitation services.

The United States National Institutes of Health estimates between 10 and 30 per cent of those infected with Covid-19 have ongoing symptoms.

Britain’s Office of National Statistics has said about 20 per cent with Covid still have symptoms more than five weeks after diagnosis. Ten per cent still have three months on.

There is good news. Some countries with advanced vaccine programmes report symptoms vanishing after vaccination.

Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, said immunisation was likely to help because the vaccines reduce infection.

As more Kiwis return, there will be more people here with damaging experiences of family loss, lockdowns, joblessness, and living with daily fears of infection. A New Zealand Covid LongHaulers Facebook group already has more than 150 members.

Some Kiwis have picked up long Covid from infections here, others overseas. We are duty bound to treat them all. And that situation could continue for years.

We may have avoided the worst of its initial impact but will long feel its presence.