The coronavirus is triggering all sorts of diseases other than ME/CFS – that’s good news for anyone with a post-infectious illness
We thought the coronavirus would trigger a lot of chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and it has. The big surprise is what else it’s doing. The coronavirus is turning out to be quite the disease accelerator.
How many different diseases will the coronavirus trigger?
It’s giving us our first good look at the whole realm of post-infectious illnesses – and it’s a doozy.
ME/CFS – was expected, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome – ditto, some autoimmune diseases – for sure… but dozens of other diseases? (And we don’t have data on many others) … I don’t think anyone counted on that.
Of course, they didn’t. Except for ME/CFS, the field of post-infectious illness hardly existed. Post-infectious illnesses were kind of a poor cousin to more “real illnesses”. The real work – fighting off the infection – that had already been done. If you had problems afterward, well, they weren’t serious enough to warrant the medical field’s attention. They were your problem, not the medical profession. That attitude is changing.
With these large studies underway, we’re starting to see what a viral infection can do and it’s opening eyes. The literature already tells us one thing – that the number of diseases that can be triggered by an infection is going to jump dramatically – and that finding should prompt more studies of what viruses and other pathogens can do to the body. It’s also beginning studies into the long-term effects of other pathogens.
If a mild coronavirus infection can cause long COVID, why not the common cold or the flu or a stomach virus? One recent study found other respiratory infections were just as likely to trigger a neurological or psychiatric disorder as the coronavirus. The implications of that are enormous and let’s hope that the medical field has the guts to take this issue on and see if it’s been missing something important all this time.
The fact that some diseases are being triggered by the coronavirus, while others are not, is going to tell us something about the impact of an infection on the body. The fact that the coronavirus appears particularly adept at triggering ME/CFS is in itself illuminating. Over time, we should learn which parts of the body or systems in the body are particularly vulnerable to the long-term consequences of infections, and why.
The studies that are assessing the rates of post-infectious illnesses tend to be huge and often number in the millions. Check out, below, the astonishingly wide number of disorders a coronavirus infection appears to be triggering.
“Functional Disorders” (ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, environmental illness, interstitial cystitis)
Nothing to find here! It’s an odd thing. While many studies have shown that fatigue, pain, sleep, and cognition are impaired in long COVID, and ME/CFS is the disease most associated with it, I couldn’t find any large studies that assessed the incidence of any of the above conditions. That may be because ME/CFS is rarely diagnosed, plus the fact we haven’t seen many big studies looking at the incidence of musculoskeletal or gut disorders, or disorders like ME/CFS. I have been told that information is in some of these databases but it has apparently not been analyzed.
Moving on…
Gynecological Disorders
Another miss. We know that gynecological disorders are increased in ME/CFS and that women are more likely to have long COVID than men, yet I was unable to find any study assessing the prevalence of gynecological disorders in long COVID.
Dysautonomia
Ditto…
Autoimmune Disorders
Eric Topol has been way ahead of the game in long COVID and he recently penned a fascinating article, “The heightened risk of autoimmune diseases after Covid“.
Topol’s review of autoimmune diseases that occur after a coronavirus infection shows how quickly the field is moving. As of January of this year, Topol didn’t feel he could say anything concrete about autoimmunity and long COVID, but by May, three large studies – following millions of people (thanks to electronic health records) had been published.
Topol wrote that coming down with a COVID infection results in a “substantially increased risk of developing a diverse spectrum of new-onset autoimmune diseases.” The increased risk – 20-40% – is not small at all, and diverse is an understatement. The number of autoimmune diseases that fall into this category is astounding, and I would bet my bottom dollar that it’s going to rise dramatically over time as the patients are followed for longer periods of time. (Two of the studies followed COVID-19 patients for a year, while the other followed many of its patients for less than a year.) They include:
- rheumatoid arthritis (aHR:2.98, 95% CI:2.78–3.20),
- ankylosing spondylitis (aHR:3.21, 95% CI:2.50–4.13),
- systemic lupus erythematosus (aHR:2.99, 95% CI:2.68–3.34),
- dermatopolymyositis (aHR:1.96, 95% CI:1.47–2.61),
- systemic sclerosis (aHR:2.58, 95% CI:2.02–3.28),
- Sjögren’s syndrome (aHR:2.62, 95% CI:2.29–3.00),
- mixed connective tissue disease (aHR:3.14, 95% CI:2.26–4.36),
- Behçet’s disease (aHR:2.32, 95% CI:1.38–3.89),
- polymyalgia rheumatica (aHR:2.90, 95% CI:2.36–3.57),
- vasculitis (aHR:1.96, 95% CI:1.74–2.20),
- psoriasis (aHR:2.91, 95% CI:2.67–3.17),
- inflammatory bowel disease (aHR:1.78, 95%CI:1.72–1.84),
- celiac disease (aHR:2.68, 95% CI:2.51–2.85),
- type 1 diabetes mellitus
Understanding which autoimmune diseases get triggered the most might help us understand the pathology behind the most commonly triggered post-SARS-CoV-2 illness – ME/CFS. Note that mixed connective tissue disease is one of the most commonly triggered autoimmune diseases and that Sjogren’s Syndrome – a common diagnosis in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) – is up there as well.
The red line apparently indicates no increase in diagnoses in COVID-19 patients vs non-COVID-19 patients.
It was interesting to see that the diagnosis of celiac disease (the autoimmune reaction to wheat which, among other things, causes malabsorption of nutrients) – commonly thought of a genetic disorder – was increased.
The one autoimmune disease we might have expected to be in there – multiple sclerosis (MS) – is not. Since we know EBV plays a big role in MS, and we know EBV reactivation is common in long COVID, one would have thought MS would have popped up. Studies assessing the incidence of MS after infectious mononucleosis (EBV) find that it takes quite some time, though, for MS to show up.
While some recent studies have not found evidence of increased levels of autoantibodies, others have, and Topol pointed a finger at the high levels of autoantibodies focused on the herpes viruses such as the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) that Iwasaki found. Interestingly, Topol also pointed out that, while such cases appear to be very rare, that COVID vaccines may be triggering some autoimmune conditions (rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and autoimmune polyarthritis) as well.
Neurological Diseases
Neurological symptoms stood out in long COVID from the beginning and, of course, are common in ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and POTS as well. It’s clear that both the central nervous and peripheral nervous systems are involved. It’s not surprising, then, to see that quite a few large studies have assessed the prevalence of post-infectious neurological diseases. Quite a few neurological disorders popped up, including some you might not have thought would be associated with infection such as psychosis. (Health Rising has a blog coming up on psychosis and ME/CFS).
One study, interestingly, found that the incidence of neurological disorders jumped up dramatically in the first six months after the infection and then declined, leaving only four (including psychotic disorders) still increased after two years.
One 3.8 million-person study found an increased incidence of:
- anxiety disorder;
- mood disorder;
- psychotic disorder;
- insomnia;
- cognitive deficit;
- dementia;
- epilepsy or seizures;
- encephalitis;
- intracranial haemorrhage;
- ischaemic stroke;
- parkinsonism;
- Guillain-Barré syndrome;
- nerve, nerve root, and plexus disorders;
- myoneural junction (neuromuscular) and muscle disease.
THE GIST
- The field of post-infectious diseases didn’t (except for ME/CFS) exist prior to the coronavirus. The medical field focused on treating infections – not dealing with their aftermath. Recent studies indicate why that’s not going to fly anymore – and it’s not just because of ME/CFS. It’s because large studies are indicating that a coronavirus infection – whether it’s mild or severe – is upping the risk for all sorts of diseases.
- Most of these studies are very large – running into the millions of participants – that rely on electronic health records. They’re comparing the incidence of new diagnoses in people who were infected with the coronavirus with those who weren’t.
- Eric Topol recently wrote a blog on the autoimmune implications of COVID-19. Three recently published large studies lead Topol to report a “substantially increased risk of developing a diverse spectrum of new-onset autoimmune diseases.“
- The increased risk was not low – a 20-40% increase in the likelihood of coming down with one of these illnesses – and the range of autoimmune illnesses affected was diverse indeed: the studies pointed to dramatic increases in the diagnosis of almost 20 autoimmune diseases. (See blog for the diseases). Since autoimmune disease can take a while to show up after an infection, one can only assume that this number will rise over time.
- Other studies have found a marked increase in neurological diseases, including some one might not have thought. Besides things like cognitive disorders, sharp increases in the rates of psychotic disorders, epilepsy, stroke, and parkinsonism as well as others.
- Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases have not been as well assessed but increases in asthma, type I and type II diabetes, respiratory diseases, heart failure, and stroke have been seen.
- Oddly enough, none of these studies have assessed increased incidences of the one disease long COVID has been most associated with – ME/CFS. Nor have they assessed new diagnoses of fibromyalgia, IBS, dysautonomia, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), or gynecological diseases.
- If you want more research into post-infectious illnesses, then linking an infectious event to dozens of serious illnesses can only help.
- The study makes one wonder how many chronic illnesses were triggered by an infectious event.
- For all of its horrendous impact, the coronavirus pandemic is clearly going to force the medical profession to take a very close look at what happens during an infectious event – and afterward – and that is good news for anyone with a post-infectious illness like ME/CFS.
- cognition and memory disorders;
- peripheral nervous system disorders;
- episodic disorders (for example, migraine and seizures);
- extrapyramidal and movement disorders;
- mental health disorders;
- musculoskeletal disorders;
- sensory disorders;
- Guillain-Barré syndrome;
- encephalitis or encephalopathy.
A study following a million and a half people found increased rates of the following diseases six months after the infection:
- anxiety disorder;
- mood disorder;
- psychotic disorder;
- Insomnia;
- cognitive deficit;
- dementia;
- epilepsy or seizures;
- ischaemic stroke;
- intracranial haemorrhage;
- myoneural junction or muscle disease.
Two years after an infection, the following risks remained elevated:
- cognitive deficit;
- dementia;
- psychotic disorders;
- epilepsy or seizures.
Cardiovascular / Cardiopulmonary
Surprisingly, given the effects of COVID-19 on the blood vessels and the lungs, the rates of post-infectious cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary disorders have not been as well assessed, but various studies have found an increased risk of asthma, respiratory diseases, heart failure, and ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke.
Good News
The medical community is surely giving pathogens another look.
ME/CFS and POTS are in good company. The fact that a coronavirus infection is able to trigger so many major autoimmune and neurological diseases is good news for anyone who wants to get to the bottom of how infections trigger chronic illnesses. If you want more research into post-infectious illnesses, then linking an infectious event to dozens of serious illnesses is a darn good way to start.
Given these figures, one wonders how many chronic illnesses are actually post-infectious illnesses. The idea that infections could have manifest results, including the production of many chronic diseases, showed up in the early 1900s in “focal infection theory“. By the 1920s, it had apparently become widely accepted in medical circles but was largely discredited by the 1960s.
Other germ theories of chronic illness have been proposed but don’t seem to have received much attention – but my guess is that these long-COVID studies are going to change that. Post-infectious illnesses have existed in a kind of dark area in medicine. While much effort has been focused on defeating infections, despite statistics that maybe 5% of people with an infection have a difficult time recovering, they’ve been almost totally ignored – until now.
Look at what’s happened with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). Here we have a very clear connection between a single pathogen and a chronic illness, yet despite the fact that many people come down with Lyme disease, until recently, both PTLDS research and Lyme research were woefully underfunded. (Congressional action and a strategic plan changed that.) I was told years ago that researchers in the U.S. just aren’t interested in pathogens. That is surely changing…
I’d decided not to get any more boosters thinking the risk/benefit ratio had flipped for me, but after reading this am reconsidering.
It’s rather amazing, isn’t it? I imagine the chance of getting these diseases is still quite low but these studies suggest it is increased. I wish I knew what the actual chances are but I don’t know how to assess the statistics.
I’m still masking up and given these stats I will continue to do so.
Maybe the fact that mRNA vaccines produces more IgG4 in people. On the long term this could explain some diseases you discribe Cort. especially immune related diseases and autoimmunity. But i agree that something is going on with te covid virus itself too. It is not only the vaccines.
IgG4 Antibodies Induced by mRNA Vaccines Generate Immune Tolerance to SARS-CoV-2’spike Protein by Suppressing the Immune System
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202303.0441/v1
mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 induce comparably low long-term IgG Fc galactosylation and sialylation levels but increasing long-term IgG4 responses compared to an adenovirus-based vaccine
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.1020844/full
Both affect the mysterious immune system – not one of our strong points!
Thank you Cort, as always. I’m an anti-vaxer. I believe that a childhood vax started my downward spiral. My older Bro decided to take the CVD-19 MRNA vax. He soon, thereafter, developed Staph in his leg. He’s been receiving weekly oxygen treatments for about a year now. It’s slowly helping. 8 of my friends, all healthy, middle-aged folks, died within 6 months of their CVD-19 vax. 2 others experienced a few small strokes but ended up having no significant aftereffects. 1 other has mild version of what he thinks is CFS.
I don’t believe in coincidences.
I can see how you would come to that conclusion given your experience, Carlene. In fact, I don’t know how you could come to any other conclusion! It’s clear that the vaccines have hit some people with ME/CFS really hard. The large studies do watch for diseases of all sorts including, of course, mortality.
I became a believer in the vaccine studies picking up your “usual” diseases when one picked up a very rare clotting problem. Certainly, though, it’s true vaccines have caused some problems in some people. They are powerful for sure.
My experience is the opposite. Everyone in my family and extended family and friends has done just fine with the vaccines.
The situation is more complex than we think. It is know that both viral infections and vaccinations can trigger autoimmune reactions. However, for the first time in history we have mRNA vaccines. They induce a very different reaction in the body compared to previous vaccinations. I suspect that the majority of cases of autoimmunity arise from the interplay of these two factors. One triggers, the other maintains. One sensitizes, the other potentiates.
Due to the pressures of the pandemic, it is very sad that vaccination programs were not introduced in a scientific way, with active and control groups. Although this may have been done at the intial phases of launching the vaccines, the whole process was rushed, and the usual safety checks that take place over many years weren’t able to be implemented before mass immunization began.
We may never be able to unravel the mechanisms involved as there is such a mixture of groups and confounding variables:
1. at least five different types of vaccines, and more being produced
2. multiple COVID infections, with a variety of variants, and new ones continuing to emerge
3. numerous populations with different genetic susceptibilities to 1 and 2, as it has been a truly global phenomenon.
While I had no problems with the MRNA vaccines despite a long history of FM, I have now switched to getting Novavax as a booster mostly because I read it seems to have more staying power than the other vaccines. I had no unwanted side effects from Novavax, a traditionally derived vaccine.
Karen, it’s taken me months to recover from each mRNA vaccine and booster. I have a sense that I might do better with the Novavax vaccine, but when I checked with my local county health department (Utah, USA), they said it’s only approved for an initial vaccine, not a booster. How were you able to get this?
My son ran into the same problem. He wanted to get the Novavax vaccine as a booster because he had developed a horrible case of hives after getting his second Moderna shot. He was also turned down for Novavax so he has opted not to get a booster. I’m a senior citizen that had already had Moderna as my first booster. When I was eligible to get a second booster, I got Novavax without any questions. I don’t know why they are restricting Novavax when the results on it are overall quite positive.
Thank you, Karen. I called the CDC yesterday to see if I could get any clarification on the use of Novavax as a booster for certain groups. The official rule on this is that Novavax can be used as a first booster but not a subsequent booster. I don’t understand the rationale for this. It sounds like you were able to get it even with a prior mRNA booster. Wish I could find a way to do this.
Cort,
I think it is all quite fascinating. I don’t think it is melodramatic to say that in the modern interconnected world, human pathogens have never had it so good.
A study in Ireland found significant impacts on premature births during lockdowns.
https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/9/e003075
Obviously, there is everything and the kitchen sink from a potential causal perspective. However, I also think it was interesting that here where I live the rate of Influenza infections and deaths dropped away massively during lockdowns and social distancing restrictions. You assume it was also the case for other pathogens. I’m not advocating for any public health measures here, but what I mean is that the response to Covid has accidently given some amazing insights into “background” levels of disease burden, and the myriad of potential reasons for those levels, of which pathogen exposure is a contender.
I recently read a Canadian article that referred to relapsing ME/CFS suggesting relapse can occur years later. I haven’t found much information about people with ME/CFS being more susceptible to Covid infection. I am interested to know if people who were diagnosed with ME/CFS and recovered to some degree relapsed after Covid infection and may now be diagnosed with Long Covid when they are experiencing a relapse of ME/CFS. Many medical professionals still know very little about ME/CFS however most doctors are aware of Long Covid.
A significant subset of people with ME/CFS/FM go through relapsing remitting stages; that is – they can get a lot better and then relapse – sometimes for no reason they can find. We did a blog on it some time ago
https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2015/04/20/disease-course-in-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-and-fibromyalgia-a-survey/
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if people who had gotten better relapsed after coming down with COVID.
For what it is worth, my Father caught a passing flu in 1965, but was left with lung problems that became progressive and killed him in 1967 (when he drowned in his own lung secretions even though he was in hospital). He was 45 years old. At the time, his attending Docs said that they knew of only one other similar chronic case as a result of that passing flu (but that was within a pretty small circle). This makes me wonder if the chronic symptoms result from a combination of a genetic predisposition, in concert with any factor (eg’s: A viral infection, a bacterial infection, mold exposure, chemical/toxin exposure or significant trauma) that up-regulates the immune response (which never returns back to normal, and deregulates many systems)? Just speculation.
Alternatively, if any one of many body systems (such as immune, gastro, neuro, vascular or endocrine) are deregulated too much (or for too long), it could potentially deregulate all of the other systems until a new (sick or deranged) homeostasis develops that is change resistant. This could be what keeps us sick. Such a “chonically deregulated” homeostasis could also be expected to wear heavily (weaken or age) the body faster, increasing the risk and incidence of a host of other diseases (as noted by this article). This could explain how or why so many of our systems are deregulated, and explain why different people may have experienced different initial triggers. Just food for thought.
Interesting, Dr. Klimas’s modeling suggest just that – that the homeostatic equilibrium has altered and we’re basically stuck in a suboptimal homeostatic state.
https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2014/02/12/regulatory-barrier-change-women-get-stuck-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-men-model-mecfs-emerges/
TY for your response Cort. There is one additional point I’d like to make on this topic, relating to treatment. If Dr Klimas’ hypothesis (of a deregulated homeostasis that causes and perpetuates our symptoms) is valid, then this could potentially explain why recovery is so elusive. ie. If any one system (neuro, gastro, gastric, vascular or endocrine), is deregulated sufficiently, it will almost certainly deregulate all of the other systems (since biochemistry is so complex and interactive between body systems). Thus, we cannot expect to recover a symptom free homeostasis (= our health) as a result of re-balancing any one of these systems. If they are not all re-balanced simultaneously, any (still) imbalanced system will promptly bring us back to our “sick” homeostasis (or keep us sick). Note that no Doctor or medication (that I know of) even attempts to recover balance in all of these systems (and perhaps more) at the same time. They all tend to address one factor or one system at a time. Could this be a recipe for failure to find effective treatment/recovery?
Couldn’t agree more, Dave!
“They were never the same after they had…” How often have we read variations on that? A couple of centuries worth of letters and diaries of ordinary people. Here’s hoping for a little more precision and knowledge.
Have you seen any studies on the incidence of cerebral white-matter loss and cerebral atrophy in long covid?
In the earlier days of covid, before Dr. Nath headed the $1.2 billion long-covid program, he was doing post-mortem studies of covid patients’ brains. And there he found abnormal white-matter loss and atrophy.
So many discussions of post-infectious syndromes seem to ignore this aspect. But it’s a side that’s readily studied and shown through scans–not at all nebulous, like other aspects. And for those of us with these issues, it’s an important part of our illness.
You’re so busy already! But a look into this aspect would be helpful. Thanks!
I agree – we saw some really interesting stuff early on but not so much – that I’m aware of – lately. Nath is doing an intense neurological study of long COVID and he’s looking into this. When I talked to him he was trying to get access to some very high powered technology to look into this.
https://www.healthrising.org/blog/2022/12/09/avindra-nath-chronic-fatigue-long-covid-interview/
Bhupesh Prustys new research is the one to watch ! it could be another month to wait though.
2nd June I think xx
(…)Post COVID-19 infection was not associated with either myocarditis (aHR 1.08; 95% CI 0.45 to 2.56) or pericarditis (aHR 0.53; 95% CI 0.25 to 1.13). We did not observe an increased incidence of neither pericarditis nor myocarditis in adult patients recovering from COVID-19 infection(..)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35456309/
There were no difference between unvaccinated patiënts with covid (n= 200.000) and control group without covid (n= 600.000). So covid did not causes more myo- or pericarditis. It is well know now that the mRNA vaccine is a big risk to develop this serious infections especially in young men. These young men didn’t need a vaccine in the first place.
I see many people with immune related problems after boosters. That said i do believe covid is a nasty virus but this mRNA vaccine will not protect you on the long way. This virus is endemic everybody wil get it sooner or later.
I am not an anti-vaxer but I am critical of this mRNA vaccine. And there are very good reasons for that. I also do understand people with websites or blogs can’t be to critically because they would be banned.
Do you really think that the government and medical community would give in if the mRNA vaccine turns out to be dangerous?
The anti-vaxxers are causing quite a stir. My son refuses to get the vaccine. He did get Covid and has since been ill with “something” off and on ever since. My grandson who lives with his father is sick a lot also. Has had Covid but never a vaccine nor booster. I however have gotten all the vaccines with absolutely no problem. I’ve never had a bad result from any vaccine in my entire life ( I’m 83 ) except when I got the first vaccine for shingles. I got so sick I’ve never gone back for the second one. My doc said she’d only known one person to get sick from the shingles vaccine. I said, well… now you know 2. I’ve had ME/FM for nearly 40 years.
Nancy I too have never had any vaccine issues other than with shingles, in fact the Moderna Covid vaccine made me feel almost normal for a day, so much more energy! I got both shingles but felt sooo fluish the next day. I was told to make sure I didn’t have anything to do the day after, so this must be a not uncommon reaction. Surprised your doc had only known 2 – probably just wasn’t told. Hope your son and grandson get well and can live healthy lives.
Very good for you! But others have severe adverse side effects or even died after vaccination. What about those people?
The shingles vaccine was rougher for me than the COVID vaccines to which I had either a normal reaction (fluey feelings for a short time) to or no reaction to. The second shingles shot knocked me out for about two days and was over.
Well, unless somebody convinces me to get the second shingles shot. I won’t be getting one. I’ve never had a vaccine knock me out almost completely. Recovery took several days. So should the second one be even rougher, I shudder to think how it would affect me. I’ll never forget how the prep for a sigmoidoscopy put me in bed for several days – just the prep. I keep hoping they’ll come up with a way to scan that area and not do anything at all invasive unless they see a problem.
Appreciate this write-up, Cort.
Did you see that the NIH has reportedly submitted the ME/CFS Intramural Study paper to a journal for review (I believe this happened within the last few weeks”)? Just sharing for visibility.
As you probably know, the journal is confidential until the paper is accepted for publication, but these findings may impact RECOVER / future research and curious when it will be for public consumption.
https://twitter.com/Dakota_150/status/1650486994470838276
Thanks, Dakota for keeping an eye on this! 🙂
Of course!
Also just wanted to share your way on this today, from Brian Vastag, Patient #4 in the NIH ME/CFS Intramural Study. He shared his current thoughts & analysis on this vital study in a Mastodon thread. Brian’s involvement with this begins in 2015.
https://sciencemastodon.com/@brianvastag/110272335599929743
I didn’t know…Thanks!
No problem! He added a few more posts yesterday too to his original thread if interested in viewing.
https://sciencemastodon.com/@brianvastag/110277883131405158
Hi Cort, sorry brainissues…you wrote :”With these large studies underway, we’re starting to see what a viral infection can do and it’s opening eyes.” I do not understand who is doing those large studies. NIH? other ones? I saw the links to the few large studies you described. But I do not understand from who (NIH, worldwide, WHO)…these large studies are underway…
They’re from other research groups. The Veteran’s Administration in the U.S. has been very good at this. I think there’s a UK study in there. All you really need is access to a large electronic health records database. Some countries are very good at creating standardized databases that can be searched through.
thank you as allways! 🙂
My MD/homeopathic physician ordered a LabCorp test for “SARS-CoV-2 Semi-Quant Total Ab, Spike Ab Dilution. Negative is <0.8; mine was 16993. The interpretation is as follows (on the LabCorp report): "Antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain were detected. It is yet undetermined what level of developing symptomatic SARS-C0V-2 disease. Studies are underway to measure the quantitative levels of specific SARs-CoV-2 antibodies following vaccination. Such studies will provide valuable insights into the correlation between protection from vaccination and antibody levels." My physician told me not to get any more covid vaccines or boosters. Also of relevance is the following article: https://www.cell.com/trends/molecular-medicine/fulltext/S1471-4914(22)00103-4 regarding the spike hypothesis.
Beth, can you say why your doctor advised against getting any more Covid vaccines or boosters?
Hi Cory, she thinks the high number of spikes from too many vaccines/boosters in my blood may be linked to my new fatigue, increased pain and perhaps long covid. It will be interesting to see what scientists may investigate based on the data that Pfizer released about a year ago, regarding adverse effects of vaccines/boosters–perhaps some of us didn’t need that much covid vaccine. I really appreciate your comments and updates; very, very helpful.
Sorry! CORT, not Cory!
Thank you, Beth. I think the vaccines and boosters have had a negative impact on my overall health. They may have also saved me from serious Covid. It’s so difficult to know. I appreciate your sharing your doctor’s take on this.
The prevalence of autoimmune symptoms in long COVID seems to jibe with Grimson study that found diseased monocytes correlating the symptom severity. Dysregulated monocytes have been increasingly implicated in autoimmune disorders in recent years. They should look if microglia, brain’s equivalent of monocytes, are similarly dysregulated in long COVID. That could explain all those neurological symptoms.
There is now only one thing that I’m really interested in and that’s finding a way to counteract the molecular mimicry of the microRNA which is responsible for aberrant Mitochondrial Fission as per Bhupesh Prusty et al.
Everything else is secondary to that fundamental abnormality and will automatically come right once the underlying problem is corrected.
Focus on the Elephant sitting on the car rather than the fuel consumption and the speedometer!
This is really hard to read. As someone already living with an autoimmune condition I have been holding on to hope that the degree of risk, stress, and isolation of trying to protect myself would ease. I’m curious what implications others are taking from this around how to live life/ I find people either throw their hands up, or double down on masking and distancing. I don’t even know if I should get boosted anymore. Appreciate the information given and work you do Cort.
Cort, have you read/published anything about side effects of the bivalent booster being different than earlier ones? I had the original vaccine (Pfizer), two boosters (Moderna) with physical side effects and tiredness which wore off after a week. Due to restrictions in Norway, I could only now get the bivalent 10 days ago.Since then, I can barely get out of bed for food, and I don’t care (really different for me, I fight all the time mentally even though I lose My mantra is “Tomorrow is going to be better”).Can side effects worsen depression? It was interesting to read above about mental effects (beyond brain for etc) . Thoughts? Thanks
I am someone who had severe ME/CFS for about 4 years, completely bed bound unable to talk for 18months at one stage, over 12 months I got back to point where I was symptom free for 2 years, able to complete exercise like light jogging and swimming. Then got what was a mild covid infection, completely recovered from it for a couple of days where I felt 100% again – then within a week I was completely bed bound again. I have improved somewhat in last 18months but still in a wheelchair and largely house bound.