Scientists may have finally found the cause of long-lasting Covid-19 infections: low iron levels after infection.
Around 1.9 million people in the UK say they suffer from prolonged Covid symptoms, which include fatigue, muscle pain and loss of smell.
Researchers say they had problems with iron levels in their blood.
Symptoms can include fatigue, shortness of breath, muscle pain and problems with memory and concentration – and last long after the initial Covid infection has cleared.
Now scientists believe that problems with iron levels in the blood – and the body’s ability to regulate this important nutrient – could be a key factor in the problems.
Shortly after the pandemic began, a team led by Cambridge University began recruiting people who had tested positive for the virus.
Over the course of a year, participants provided blood samples, and it became clear that a significant number of patients would have persistent symptoms.
What is Long Covid
Most people with Covid feel better within a few days or weeks, but those with prolonged Covid take much longer to recover.
Symptoms include:
Fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of smell and muscle pain.
It can also cause:
Memory problems, breathing, insomnia, heart palpitations, dizziness, joint pain, pins and needles, tinnitus, stomach pain, loss of appetite, high temperature, cough, skin rashes and depression.
Finally, the researchers focused their analysis on 214 people, about half of whom reported long-term Covid symptoms between 3-10 months after infection.
They found that ongoing inflammation and low blood iron levels could be seen as early as two weeks after an infection in those people who reported long-lasting Covid many months later.
Problems with blood iron levels were detected in the long Covid group, regardless of age, gender or severity of infection.
“Iron levels, and how the body regulates iron, were disrupted early during SARS-CoV-2 infection. and it took a very long time to recover, especially for those who reported Covid many months later.
Although we saw evidence that the body was trying to repair the low iron availability and resulting anemia by making more red blood cells, it didn’t do a particularly good job in the face of ongoing inflammation,” explains Dr. Aimee Hanson, who worked on the study while at the University of Cambridge, and is now at the University of Bristol
Study co-author Prof. Hal Drakesmith, from the University of Oxford, said iron dysregulation is a natural response to infection.
“When the body has an infection, it responds by removing iron from the bloodstream. This protects us from potentially lethal bacteria that pick up iron in the blood and grow rapidly. It’s an evolutionary response that redistributes iron in the body, and the blood plasma becomes an iron desert.”
The researchers found that ongoing inflammation and low iron levels in the blood could be seen as early as two weeks after an infection in those people who report prolonged Covid, many months later.
“However, if this goes on for a long time, there is less iron for the red blood cells, so oxygen is carried less efficiently, affecting metabolism and energy production and for the white blood cells, which need iron for to function properly. The protection mechanism ends up becoming a problem.”
The findings, published in the journal Nature Immunology, may help explain why symptoms such as fatigue and exercise intolerance are common in long-term Covid.
The researchers say the study points to potential ways to prevent or reduce prolonged Covid impact by rectifying iron dysregulation during early infection.
One approach could be to control extreme inflammation as early as possible before it affects iron dysregulation, according to dailymail.com.
Another approach could involve iron supplementation – however, as Dr Hanson pointed out, this may not be straightforward.
“It’s not necessarily that people don’t have enough iron in their body, it’s just that it’s in the wrong place. We need a way to remobilize iron and pull it back into the bloodstream, where it becomes more useful to red blood cells.”
2024-03-06 12:30:01
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