CHICAGO: When COVID-19 hit in 2020, Ghenya Grondin of Waltham, Massachusetts, was a postpartum doula - a person charged with helping young couples navigate the first weeks of their newborn child's life at home.
Grondin, now aged 44, was infected with SARS-CoV-2 in mid-March of that year - before there were tests, before social distancing or masks, and many months before the medical community recognized long COVID as a complication of COVID-19.
She is part of a community of first-wave long-haulers who faced a new disease without a roadmap or support from the medical establishment.
Three years later, at least 65 million people worldwide are estimated to have long COVID, according to an evidence review published last month in Nature Reviews Microbiology. More than 200 symptoms have been linked to the syndrome - including extreme fatigue, difficulty thinking, headaches, dizziness when standing, sleep problems, chest pain, blood clots, immune dysregulation, and even diabetes.
There are no proven treatments but research is underway.
People infected later in the pandemic had the benefit of vaccination, which "protects at least to some degree" from long COVID, said Dr. Bruce Levy, a Harvard pulmonologist and a co-principal investigator of the National Institute of Health's $1.15 billion U.S. RECOVER trial, which aims to characterize and find cures for the disease.
"The initial variant of the virus caused a more severe illness than we're seeing currently in most patients," he said.
According to the University of Washington's Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, in the first two years of the pandemic women were twice as likely as men to develop long COVID, and 15% of all of those affected at three months continued to experience symptoms beyond 12 months.
An analysis of thousands of health records by the RECOVER trial found that non-Hispanic white women in wealthier areas were more likely than others to have a long COVID diagnosis. Researchers said that likely reflected disparities in access to healthcare, and suggests that many cases of long COVID among people of color are not being diagnosed.
Grondin grew concerned when she continued to have symptoms three months after her initial infection - but there was no name for it then.
"I just kept saying to my husband, something isn't right," she said.
Like her fellow long-haulers, she has experienced a host of symptoms, including fatigue, sleep apnea, pain, cognitive dysfunction, and in her case, a brain aneurysm. She described a frightening moment when she was driving a car with her toddler in the back and had a seizure that left her in the path of oncoming traffic.
She has since been diagnosed with long COVID and can no longer work.
"It just feels like a constant punch in the face," said Grondin.
Scientists are still working out why some people infected with COVID develop long-term symptoms, but syndromes like this are not new. Other infections such as Lyme disease can result in long-term symptoms, many of which overlap with long COVID.
Leading theories of the root causes of long COVID include the virus or viral proteins remaining in the tissues of some individuals; the infection causing an autoimmune response; or the virus reactivating latent viruses, leading to inflammation that damages tissue.
Kate Porter, 38, of Beverly, Massachusetts, a project manager for a financial services company, believes she was infected on a flight back from Florida in late March of 2020.
She had daily fevers for seven months, muscle weakness, shortness of breath, and excruciating nerve pain.
"I don't think people realize how brutal physically everything was," she said. In one of her darker moments, Porter recalled, "I cried on the floor begging for something to take me peacefully. I've never been like that."
Frustrated by the lack of answers from a list of 10 specialists she has seen, Porter has explored alternative medicine. "It has opened me up to other remedies," she said.
Although her health is much improved now, she still suffers from near daily migraines and neck pain she fears may never go away.
Genie Stevens, 65, a director of climate education, got infected while traveling from her home in Santa Fe to Cape Cod in late March 2020 to visit her mother, and never left. "It completely upended my life," she said.
She went to an emergency department seeking tests and was told there were none - the typical answer in the spring of 2020, when scientists were scrambling to understand the nature of the virus and tests were being rationed. She was sent home to manage on her own.
A lifelong practitioner of meditation, Stevens took solace there, finding it eased her symptoms.
Confined to her bed that spring, she focused on an ancient crabapple tree outside her room. "I watched every bud unfurl."
Although largely recovered, Stevens still has flare-ups of brain fog, exhaustion and high-pitched ringing in her ears when she pushes too hard. "This is the astoundingly maddening part of the illness. I feel totally fine, and then bam."
Reuters
Tue Feb 21 2023
Ghenya Grondin, who first was sick with COVID-19 in March 2020 and has had long COVID ever since, lies down connected with wires for a sleep study in Boston, Massachusetts, US. - REUTERS
Lubnan kemuka aduan terhadap Israel di PBB susulan pencerobohan darat
Aduan terbabit mengecam pencerobohan terhadap kedaulatan Lubnan dan kemasukan pasukan Israel ke dalam sempadan Lubnan sejak malam 1 Okt.
KRI: Bagaimana pandemik COVID-19 mengubah perbelanjaan dompet rakyat Malaysia?
Analisis ini meneroka perubahan ketara dalam pola perbelanjaan isi rumah selepas pandemik. Walaupun pertumbuhan pendapatan adalah perlahan, isi rumah telah menyaksikan peningkatan yang ketara dalam perbelanjaan berbanding tahun-tahun sebelumnya. Bersama Felo Kehormat, Institut Masa Depan MalaysiaDatuk Dr Madeline Berma membincangkan lebih mendalam tentang landskap kewangan yang semakin berubah dan ketidaksamaan yang wujud di antara pelbagai kumpulan pendapatan.
Banjir Kedah: Tujuh PPS diaktifkan di Baling, tempatkan 199 mangsa
Seramai 199 mangsa daripada 66 keluarga dipindahkan ke pusat pemindahan sementara di Baling sejak malam tadi.
Asas ekonomi kukuh, petunjuk pertumbuhan mampan
Pakar Ekonomi, MIDF Research, Abdul Mui’zz Morhalim mengupas berkenaan situasi ekonomi negara ketika ini, termasuk pengukuhan ringgit serta faktor yang bakal mempengaruhi pertumbuhan pada masa akan datang.
Data & Statistik KRI: Perubahan perbelanjaan isi rumah di Malaysia (2019 - 2022)
Pola perbelanjaan isi rumah berubah ketara selepas pandemik, berdasarkan kajian Khazanah Research Institute. Dapatan ini memberikan gambaran mengenai ketidaksamaan kewangan antara kumpulan pendapatan.
AWANI Ringkas: Fatwa GISBH di Selangor
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
Ringgit dbuka tinggi berbanding dolar AS
Pada 8 pagi, unit tempatan berada pada 4.2160/2240 berbanding dolar AS daripada paras penutup 4.2185/2250 pada Khamis.
Konflik Asia Barat: Harga minyak lonjak lebih 5 peratus dalam tempoh sehari
Niaga hadapan minyak mentah Brent menokok 5.03 peratus pada AS$77.62 setong.
[TERKINI] Harga minyak melonjak lebih 5 peratus akibat konflik di Asia Barat
Harga minyak mentah global melonjak selepas konflik di Asia Barat semakin meruncing. Pada Khamis, minyak mentah Brent naik 5.03%, menokok kepada $77.62 setong, manakala U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) turut meningkat 5.15% kepada $73.71 setong. Kenaikan ini membawa jumlah peningkatan harga minyak minggu ini melebihi 8%, yang tertinggi sejak Januari lalu.
[TERKINI] Perkembangan terkini evakuasi rakyat Malaysia dari Lubnan
Kementerian Luar Negeri mengesahkan bahawa seramai empat (4) orang rakyat Malaysia telah
selamat tiba di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) dari Lubnan pada pagi ini,
4 Oktober 2024. Seorang lagi rakyat Malaysia dijadualkan tiba pada petang hari yang sama.
selamat tiba di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) dari Lubnan pada pagi ini,
4 Oktober 2024. Seorang lagi rakyat Malaysia dijadualkan tiba pada petang hari yang sama.
Atasi gejala Long COVID menerusi senaman - Pakar
Gejala long COVID boleh menjejaskan kualiti hidup seseorang jika tidak ditangani dengan baik.
30-40 peratus pesakit 'long COVID' kembali bekerja dalam tiga bulan - Khairy
Seramai 30 hingga 40 peratus pesakit COVID berpanjangan (Long COVID) di Malaysia dapat kembali bekerja dalam tempoh tiga bulan selepas dijangkiti COVID-19, kata Menteri Kesihatan Khairy Jamaluddin.
Waspada risiko diabetes bagi kanak-kanak dijangkiti COVID-19
Hingga kini pelbagai kajian masih dijalankan termasuk bagi mengenal pasti kesan COVID-19 terhadap mereka yang dijangkiti.
Individu divaksinasi kurang alami 'long COVID' - Agensi kesihatan UK
Kesimpulan itu hasil daripada semakan baharu 15 kajian oleh Agensi Keselamatan Kesihatan United Kingdom (UKHSA) yang dikeluarkan pada Selasa.
Anak-anak perlu divaksin untuk elak kesan 'long COVID', MIS-C
Risiko kanak-kanak menerima kesan berpanjangan yang dikhuatiri melarat sehingga membawa maut boleh dielakkan dengan vaksinasi.
COVID-19: 37 peratus pesakit alami simptom 'long COVID' - Kajian
Gejala yang biasa termasuk masalah pernafasan, keletihan, kesakitan dan kegelisahan.
Derita COVID-19: Fazli Zainal imbas tragedi hitam, akui ralat lewat divaksinasi
"Saya tak tahu yang kalau saya tak divaksin kesannya seteruk sekarang ini dan itulah perkara yang membuatkan saya ralat sekarang."