Opinion: Long Covid is a new name for an old syndrome
Although much about ME/CFS is still not well-understood, decades of experience and research into this condition could be productively and rapidly applied to long Covid.
Long Covid goes by many names. Today, it is no longer a new public health enigma, but the outlook for sufferers is no better than when the condition was first recognized in early 2020. Although its prevalence has recently decreased to 6% of the U.S. adult population, there has been no significant progress in understanding its causes, prevention, or treatment. Long Covid still looms as the national health disaster many predicted. Everyone — patients, support groups, clinicians, researchers, and health care systems — is frustrated by lack of meaningful progress in research and patient care.
On the research side, the U.S. government rapidly anticipated and tried to blunt the force of this national calamity by investing in basic and clinical research. Hopes were raised in December 2020 when Congress provided $1.15 billion over four years to the NIH to launch its long Covid research initiative called RECOVER. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention additionally initiated its Innovative Support for Patients with Covid-19 Infections Registry (INSPIRE). Veterans Affairs also deployed the nation’s largest health care system in support of LC research.
What's Your Reaction?
