Are we getting any closer to understanding long Covid?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2022

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Extreme fatigue, brain fog, sleep disturbances, chest pain and skin rashes. These are just a few of the on-going symptoms of long Covid, a disorder that can persist for many months after an initial Covid infection. With such a vast range of symptoms, and health organisations stretched to capacity by the acute stage of the disease, long Covid has continued to remain something of a mystery. But with numerous studies trying to understand what exactly people are suffering from, progress is being made. Ian Sample speaks to Prof Akiko Iwasaki about what we do and don’t know about long Covid, and how the vaccine could reveal clues about what’s behind the disorder. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the Guardian. For many people getting over the initial infection is just the start of their COVID journey.
0:19.0	I've got chest pain, I'm struggling to breathe right now.
0:22.0	Excruiating headaches, tonitis.
0:25.0	Legs feel like lead.
0:27.0	I can't concentrate.
0:28.0	I still can't go to work.
0:30.0	I don't see my friends, I don't see my family.
0:32.0	I am totally beat. It's just horrific. It really is. It's
0:37.6	awful.
0:38.6	It may not have an official definition yet, but those who are still ill or become ill four weeks after first catching COVID-19 are said to have long COVID.
0:50.0	More than 2 million people in England may have suffered some long lasting symptoms after
0:56.3	having coronavirus a new study has concluded having questioned over half a million
1:01.7	adults the React2 research study found that over a third of the people who'd had the virus said they'd had symptoms which lasted for at least 12 weeks.
1:12.0	Some experience many months of debilitating symptoms,
1:14.9	ranging from brain fog, breathlessness and severe fatigue to chest pains, nausea,
1:20.4	tinnitus and Depression.
1:27.0	It was so bad I thought I was having a heart attack. I can't write, like I tried to write a wedding anniversary card to my husband.
1:31.0	It took me about 40 minutes. Others might find their symptoms come and go in
1:35.3	waves or that new ones suddenly come on out of nowhere. And in your questionnaire you
1:40.4	also talked about fatigue, palpitations, muscle aches, joint takes, tummy pain, diarrhea.
1:49.0	I don't, I think I did everything. Since 2020, researchers and patient advocates have been hard at work trying to unravel
2:01.0	exactly what it is that long COVID patients are suffering from,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Guardian, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Guardian and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.