Prolonged covid or acute covid? What is the difference between the symptoms of the disease

The two forms of Covid — protracted and acute — are markedly different, scientists say, and their findings will help improve diagnosis and treatment.

Symptoms specific to acute Covid include loss of taste and smell, fatigue, coughing, shortness of breath, and muscle aches or pains, while typical symptoms of long-term Covid, defined as lasting more than 12 weeks and not explained by an alternative diagnosis, include fatigue. , shortness of breath, muscle aches or pains, difficulty concentrating, and chest tightness.

Researchers at University College London said their findings, which collected information from more than 42,000 people in nine national population surveys, are the most compelling data on the subject. Several studies have been conducted in different regions of the UK with a wide range of people.

“Building an evidence base based on typical long-term symptoms of Covid will improve the diagnosis of this condition and the ability to identify underlying biological mechanisms, leading to improved patient access to treatment and services,” the authors say. Her work has been published in European Journal of Epidemiology.

A unique aspect of the study, as well as its scope, is “the inclusion of symptom data from people who have never had Covid-19,” the doctor said. Richard Silverwood from UCL. I.

“Many of the previously reported symptoms of Covid-19 and long-term symptoms of Covid can also occur in the absence of Covid-19, so without understanding the background prevalence of these symptoms in the population, it is difficult to determine the extent of their manifestation. as a specific consequence of Covid-19/mild Covid. Because we have access to this information, we can determine which symptoms are most prevalent compared to background levels.

Last year, another group of scientists said they had identified three types of chronic covid, each with a unique set of symptoms. The largest group consisted of people with neurological symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog, with separate groups for people with breathing problems and symptoms including hair and skin changes.

But the UCL researchers said the information collected does not provide conclusive evidence for the existence of different “types” of long-term Covid.

Vaccination status was not taken into account by the investigators and would not have been relevant for many of the studies they analyzed, given the timing of symptom data collection associated with the launch of the vaccination program in January 2021, but could be relevant for future studies. — said the UCL team.

The data was also collected before the emergence and dominance of the Omicron variant in the UK, meaning it can be difficult to compare with current conditions in the UK.

Around 2.1 million people in the UK (3.3 per cent of the population) had self-reported long-term Covid illness in early December 2022, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

According to a study in Israel and published in a journal, there is recent (encouraging) evidence that long-term Covid symptoms clear up infections more easily over the course of a year rather than lead to chronic health problems in the vast majority of people. BMJ.

John Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said: “Many of these cases are definitely resolved within a year, which is not a good thing – I try not to downplay it. But there’s mounting evidence that for most people it’s not for life, and that’s a good thing.”

The UCL surveys contained information on 16–28 symptoms reported during the 15 months of the pandemic from July 2020 to September 2021. Of the large group, about 9,277 people said they had Covid-19.

Some symptoms, such as a runny nose or sneezing, were not more common in people with or without Covid and those who reported long-term Covid, suggesting they are not Covid-specific.