An editorial entitled ‘On the cusp of the silent wave of the long COVID pandemic: why, what and how should we tackle this emerging syndrome in the clinic and population?‘ by Sepúlveda and Westermeier (2024) on Frontiers Journal website regarding the current knowledge on the public health impact of Long Covid.
One of the authors – Francisco Westermeier – works with the UK ME/CFS Biobank (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine), which is funded by the ME Association's Ramsay Research Fund.
By Francisco Westermeier & Nuno Sepúlveda
There is an urgent public health problem due to the rising number of individuals who remain with their health and daily functions impaired for months and even years after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. This impairment is encapsulated by a new medical condition known as post COVID-19 syndrome, post-acute COVID-19 syndrome, post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and persistent post-COVID-19 syndrome. The general public knows this condition as long COVID (LC), a coined termed by patients at the beginning of the pandemic.
Individuals with LC report experiencing many symptoms, including fatigue, post-exertional malaise (PEM), and sleep disturbances. Coincidently, these specific symptoms are the heart of the most consensual case definitions of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), a “older” disease often triggered by an infection (e.g., infectious mononucleosis) and also causing high levels of physical and mental distress. It is then no surprise that individuals with LC can also receive an ME/CFS diagnosis. This diagnostic overlap is the main reason for the growing interest in understanding the medical relationship between LC and ME/CFS in order to accelerate the development of efficacious pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for the benefit of the patients.
Research on ME/CFS with possible implications to Long Covid
This perspective paper also provided an important concept for developing clinical trial networks in this era of LC and ME/CFS. In turn, Grabowska et al. discussed the concept of extending current large-scale prevalence studies of LC to ME/CFS, a disease whose incidence and prevalence remain largely elusive. According to these authors, estimating ME/CFS prevalence comes at a minimal cost in such studies, but requires the recognition of PEM as one of the cardinal symptoms for ME/CFS diagnosis.
The recognition of PEM in medical care is also important, as demonstrated by a new study of Wormgoor and Rodenburg on a cohort of Norwegian ME/CFS patients. However, data from this new study suggested that PEM remains a neglected symptom by specialized medical staff and healthcare providers.