Millions of people who suffered from long Covid will now have proof about the reality of their condition. A group of scientists have found that there exists a difference between the blood of people with long Covid. The first key to the development of a test that can diagnose the condition.
The findings were published this week in Nature which offers a hint at the cause of the condition. Doctors have been relieved of the underlying factors that could cause the condition and the fatigue that was a part of the signs.
The findings have become a first in the evidence for the relevance of long Covid. The principal investigator of the study, David Putrino noted that the evidence was crucial at a time when the lack of treating the condition seriously was needed.
The need for more research was noted for developing blood tests that can easily diagnose long Covid. The co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive Covid-19 Center in Chicago, Dr. Marc Sala stated that the findings were important. Dr. Sala emphasized on the need for more investigation for doctors to understand the cause of its occurrence.
The researchers compared the blood samples of around 270 people categorized on the duration of their infection. The three groups were- participants who had been infected, those who were never infected and those who were experiencing symptoms of long Covid, four months after being infected.
The researchers observed several differences in the blood samples of people with long Covid. Astonishingly, the immune system activity of people with long Covid were irregular in this group. Specifically the activity of T cells and B cells were found to be different in people with long Covid.
One of the remarkable findings was the low levels of cortisol in people with long Covid. Low cortisol levels imply that the alertness was affected. Cortisol is also responsible for keeping us awake, which answers the mystery of people with long Covid being fatigued.
Putrino remarked that this finding “separated” the participants with long Covid from those who were without the condition.
As per the CDC, around 7.5% of adults in the US are affected by long Covid.
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