The world of science is trying to solve the long-term effects of Covid
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, recently declared that “the end of the pandemic has come”, but the scientific world is dealing with the long-term effects of Covid, even though the pandemic is over.
New treatment methods are being researched for the long-term effects of Covid infection on the body, which can cause fatigue, weakness, confusion, forgetfulness and even various mental problems even after months of illness. Although 612 million people in the world have been declared infected with the virus so far, this number is believed to be much higher with the unregistered. It has been recorded that 16 million people in the 18-65 age group of working age in the United States alone have health problems due to the long-term effects of Covid.
Prof. Dr. Michael Lozano, one of the speakers at the 17th World Congress of Phlebotomy held in Istanbul, noted that plasma exchange therapies in acute Covid patients can also be effective in prolonged Covid patients.
“The extended effect of COVID is different from the person” With “therapeutic plasma exchange”, which has been applied in many diseases in recent years, the patient’s blood is separated into plasma and other components, and the patient’s blood is replaced by therapeutic proteins such as albumin, rather than the plasma fraction where it is concentrated disease factors.
Prof. Dr. Lorenzo indicated that this method of treatment can be effective in some groups of patients whose complaints still do not end even months after they have contracted Covid, Prof. Dr. Lorenzo said, “More than 610 million people in the world have been affected by the Covid epidemic. These are Official figures. This number is believed to be much higher. 5 to 15 percent of these people carry the effects of Covid even months after the illness. This is called “long-term Covid.” In other words, we call it long-term effects of Covid. In disease Covid is prolonged, the symptoms of the disease vary from person to person.There are many forms such as feeling very tired, mental problems we call brain fog, clotting problems, and an overactive immune response.Therefore, we cannot name a single disease in long lasting Covid.First of all We try to identify these diseases because in order to find a cure, we need to find the causes.
The world of science is trying to solve the long-term effects of Covid
“Three mechanisms cause this” Explaining that the three mechanisms that led to the emergence of the long-term Covid, Professor Dr. Lorenzo provided the following information: “The first is an excessive immune response, that is, an excessive immune response. This leads to complaints due to severe inflammation in the body. Second, the virus is still Somewhat hidden in the blood, in some parts of the body, although the disease has passed.The other hypothesis is that thrombosis causes coagulation problems and causes thrombosis, i.e. clots.These clots can cause mental effects by causing small blockages in thin vessels One of the issues he discusses is apheresis therapies, ie plasma exchange, and we replace the patient’s blood with therapeutic solutions such as the protein albumin.
Clinical studies are continuing, noting that treatments should be given according to the patient’s mechanism, Prof. Dr. Lorenzo said, “If there is a clotting problem, we give blood thinners, which we call vasodilators. If we still detect Covid in the body, we can replace the plasma, which We call it plasmapheresis, according to it. Or if there is inflammation, i.e. a condition in which the immune response is high, that is the case as well. We are moving on to treatments that suppress inflammation, i.e. immunity. We have used TPE on an ongoing basis, especially in serious Covid patients who They were hospitalized in the intensive care unit during the pandemic period and it has been repeatedly shown to reduce mortality rates.So in fact, this method has been used in acute covid infection.Now, can this be beneficial in the long-term effects of Covid?, Studies are being done on this topic Evidence for plasma exchange in chronic or long-term effects of Covid is not yet sufficient We know that it is very effective in the acute period, but results in the chronic period are still within the scope of clinical studies. Behind a study in our center, long-term Covid-19 patients with inflammatory disease with high inflammatory markers were included. The results will also be published scientifically.
