Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Long Covid-19 is said to be the next public health disaster. Long Covid itself is a condition in which a person has been declared free of the virus but is still suffering from a prolonged series of symptoms.
In the US alone, 30 percent of patients currently experience long-term symptoms of Covid, a number equivalent to 23 million Americans, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Long Covid proves that this virus lasts a long time and perhaps even more dangerous. No wonder medical experts are calling it the next public health disaster.
“There are many people affected by this. Long Covid can change the way we practice medicine, just like it did with HIV/AIDS,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas Children’s Hospital and dean of Baylor College of Medicine.
Get to know LongCovid
Anyone with Covid-19 can develop the condition, regardless of the severity of the initial infection or viral variant, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Long Covid has also affected all age groups, even those who were previously fit and healthy.
Studies show that women are at higher risk than men; one study found that adult women were twice as likely to have long-term symptoms.
The main symptoms of the long Covid
Long Covid has been linked to more than 200 symptoms, according to the Rockefeller Foundation. Shortness of breath, fatigue and disturbed sleep or insomnia are the most common symptoms, according to a recent global meta-analysis published in Journal of the American Medical Associationa peer-reviewed journal.
Meanwhile, other symptoms include anxiety, depression, body aches, headaches, heart palpitations, and brain fog that illustrate challenges related to cognition, such as thinking, concentration, communication, comprehension, memory, and motor function. .
Some sufferers suffer damage to organs, heart, lungs, kidneys, skin and brain.
Long duration of the Covid
There is no general definition of how long symptoms last in Long Covid patients. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) state that a person has long-term symptoms if these symptoms last more than (or begin after) one month of becoming infected with Covid-19.
WHO generally uses a quarterly barometer.
Experts say that for some people, Long Covid symptoms can last for months or even years. According to a meta-analysis, approximately 15% of people whose disease persists three months after infection continue to experience symptoms for at least 12 months after infection.
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(hsy/hsy)
