Study sheds light on why long Covid affects so many organs in the body
- Scientists said the pathogen can spread within days from the airways to the heart, brain and almost every organ system in the body
- The findings may help explain why long Covid can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease
In what they describe as the most comprehensive analysis to date of the virus’s distribution and persistence in the body and brain, scientists at the US National Institutes of Health said they found the pathogen is capable of replicating in human cells well beyond the respiratory tract.
The results, released online on Saturday in a manuscript under review for publication in the journal Nature, point to delayed viral clearance as a potential contributor to the persistent symptoms wracking so-called long Covid sufferers.
Understanding the mechanisms by which the virus persists, along with the body’s response to any viral reservoir, promises to help improve care for those afflicted, the authors said.
“This is remarkably important work,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology centre at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, who has led separate studies into the long-term effects of Covid-19.