Main Menu
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS) Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), Fibromyalgia Leading Research. Delivering Hope.Open Medicine Foundation® Canada
Donate
Sign Up

What is
Long COVID?

Some people who have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, can experience long-term effects from their infection, known as Long COVID.

Up to 400 million

people worldwide are affected with Long COVID1

$1 trillion of annual economic impact

About 1% of the global economy1

Long COVID affects

men, women, and
children too.

Long COVID: Millions are still sick

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) have defined Long COVID as “an infection-associated chronic condition (IACC) that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems”.

Long COVID can present with a variety of symptoms, ranging from mild to severe. It can impact one or more systems, including the immune, cardiovascular, and neurological systems.

Millions are still sick, and they are waiting for answers.

Symptoms

Long COVID can include more than 200 symptoms. Some of the most common symptoms, like persistent fatigue, post-exertional malaise, brain fog, and sleep disturbance, are similar to those reported by people with ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) and other multi-system chronic complex diseases (msCCD).

Patients with Long COVID may also present with single or multiple symptoms of varying severity.

General Symptoms

Tiredness or fatigue

Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental effort

Fever

Neurological Symptoms

Difficulty thinking or concentrating

Headache

Sleep problems

Lightheadedness

Pins-and-needles feelings

Change in smell or taste

Depression or anxiety

Digestive Symptoms

Diarrhea

Stomach pain

Respiratory and Heart Symptoms

Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)

Cough

Chest pain

Dysautonomia

Fast-beating or pounding heart

Other Symptoms

Joint or muscle pain

Rash

Changes in menstrual cycles

And more...

Diagnosis

Symptoms of Long COVID are often unexplained by routine testing, which can include blood tests, chest x-rays, and electrocardiograms. As a result, they may be misunderstood by healthcare providers, which causes a delay in diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

There is no specific test to diagnose Long COVID, so doctors usually consider a diagnosis of Long COVID based on health history, current symptoms, and a health examination. Based on the 2024 NASEM definition of Long COVID, diagnosis should especially take into account the onset and duration of symptoms.

OMF research into Long COVID

Solely funded by private donors

We knew this was coming! Back at the beginning of the pandemic, OMF secured a $1 million grant to launch an international study following those infected with SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) as they either return to health or remain with symptoms months after being infected, now known as Long COVID. The purpose was to learn what is different in people who stay ill. This project is being conducted across the globe at our OMF-supported Collaborative Research Centers, spearheaded by some of the world’s top researchers and ME/CFS experts. Additional funds are needed to continue this critical study.

As the pandemic has continued, OMF has also expanded its portfolio of research investigating Long COVID:

  • Characterizing non-restorative sleep in post-viral disease to advance intervention innovations
  • Systems biology approaches to uncovering disease mechanism and drug repurposing for Long COVID
  • Multi-omic approaches to solve post-acute COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 syndrome

 

We all need this research now. We need your help today so that millions can return to good health tomorrow.

About the studies

Support OMF

Support Open Medicine Foundation’s quest to find effective treatments and diagnostic tests for the millions of people affected by these devastating diseases!

Donate now

——————————–

Information about Long COVID provided from:

  1. Al-Aly, Z., et al. (2024). Long COVID science, research and policy. Nature Medicine, 30, 2148-2164. doi:10.1038/s41591-024-03173-6
  2. CDC: Center for Disease Control

 

Disclaimer: This website is for informational purposes only. The information provided on this website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Consent management

Consent Preferences

Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) Form 

Microvesicles and viral sequencing
Microvesicles are a type of extracellular vesicle that is released from the cell membrane. Vesicles are small, fluid-filled sacs or vacuoles within the body. Sequencing is a technique used to determine the exact sequence of bases (A, C, G, and T) in a DNA (or viral) molecule.
NMR Metabolomics
NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) is an instrument/tool used to perform metabolic studies, metabolic profiling, and metabolomics in biofluids and tissues for more than 40 years using magnetic fields. There is a very close connection between metabolic measurements and NMR. This connection has flourished because of NMR’s many unique strengths for characterizing complex mixtures’ chemical composition.
Proteomics
The large-scale study of proteins, which are large, complex molecules that are required for structure, function, and regulation of the human body's tissues and organs.
Autoantibodies
Antibodies that react with self-molecules and that occur in healthy individuals and are referred to as natural antibodies or autoantibodies.
Extracellular DNA for viral reactivation and Mitochondrial DNA
exDNA (extracellular DNA), exDNA is often secreted actively and is used to perform several tasks, thereby offering an attractive target or tool for biotechnological, medical, environmental, and general microbiological applications. Viruses are intracellular parasites that rely to a significant extent on the host cell for replication. Viral reactivation occurs when an active replication of the viral genome results in a lytic (degradation of the cell) infection characterized by the release of new progeny (descendant) virus particles.
Immune cell profiling
The immune system has many important regulatory roles in disease development and progression. Given the emergence of effective immune therapies, reliable predictors of response are needed. Immune cell profiling determines response by evaluating immune cell populations from treated and untreated samples. For our purposes, we will evaluate the white blood cell response to the viral infection using a process called “Cytof.”
Leukocyte Genomics
A leukocyte is a colorless cell circulating in the blood and body fluids and is involved in counteracting foreign substances and disease. A genome is all genetic material of an organism. Genomics is a biology field focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. Therefore, leukocyte genomics is the study of all genetic material of leukocytes.
Metabolomics
Metabolomics is a way to study metabolism – that is, through measuring amounts of the metabolites (small molecules) produced by our bodies as we convert food into energy and other molecules that our cells need to survive. Metabolomics technology is ‘large-scale,’ meaning that several thousand metabolites can be measured from a single sample of e.g., blood or urine.
Micro RNA
Cells use Micro RNA to control whether a particular gene is making too much, too little or the normal amount of its protein at a particular time.