Trials conducted to understand what causes long COVID

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – News studies are starting up in an attempt to better understand the symptoms of long Covid and what causes it.

Three years into the pandemic and it still remains unclear exactly how many people have long Covid. Estimates have ranged from 5% to more than 30% of Covid cases, largely because there is no standard definition of the condition.

Patients who have been dealing with the disease for years are getting frustrated with a lack of progress. Many of them are dealing with shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, and other lingering symptoms and scientists still don’t know what actually causes long covid.

Even the name is a sort of catch-all term for more than 200 symptoms associated with the virus
that can emerge in about 10 to 30 percent of patients after a covid infection.

The National Institutes of Health is opening enrollment for phase 2 clinical trials that will evaluate at least four potential treatments for long Covid, additional clinical trials will test at least seven more treatments expected in the coming months.

Treatments will include drugs, biologics, medical devices, and other therapies to treat these longstanding symptoms.

Over 24,000 trial participants so far have been recruited to analyze over 60 million health records and conduct 40 studies on how Covid affects different body tissues and organs. All trials are designed to accelerate safe and effective treatments for some of the most debilitating symptoms of long Covid.