“Persistent Covid-19”: four months after the first symptoms

Fever, headaches, coughs, odor disorders… Covid-19 can manifest itself through a multitude of symptoms. But it can also take various forms. While some patients experience a resurgence of the disease several weeks after they have likely recovered, others experience persistent symptoms and never truly recover.

Covid-19: in around 10% of patients, symptoms persist

However, in the majority of cases, the manifestations of Covid-19 disappear a fortnight after their appearance. But in less than 10% of patients, these symptoms persist over time, sometimes more than four months after their onset.

This is particularly the case of a young 28-year-old ambulance attendant who testifies in theIs republican. “I was put on oxygen but I was not intubated. I was released from the hospital on April 22 and was doing pretty well”, she explains. A situation that did not last. “I started having strong migraines, nausea, heart palpitations. The aches came back. Sometimes I feel like I have a foreign body in my throat or something pressing on my chest. have lost my taste and smell, which was not the case in April “, she adds.

The young woman had a second PCR screening test in mid-May and it was positive. Even today, she continues to have painful symptoms and has been to the emergency room about ten times. But she was simply prescribed anti-depressants, which she refused to take.

“Persistent Covid-19”: An Inappropriate Immune Response?

Among the most persistent symptoms, we find fatigue, chest tightness or even loss of smell, as explained in Parisian Dominique Salmon-Ceron, infectious disease specialist at Hôtel-Dieu in Paris.

How to explain this phenomenon ? While there are several hypotheses, including a problem with the development of antibodies during infection, an inadequate immune reaction or even post-Covid-19 chronic fatigue syndrome, this mechanism still remains a mystery.

In order to better understand it, some experts are analyzing the medical data collected during the follow-up of patients affected by Covid-19. “One month after their stay in the hospital, we find that 80% still have at least one persistent symptom: most often fatigue, cough or joint pain. Some have not recovered the taste or smell. 17% are still off work and 7% say they spend more than 50% of their time in bed or in a chair “, explained Professor Louis Bernard, head of the infectious diseases department of the University Hospital of Tours, to The cross.

To try to see more clearly, a study, called “Covidorl” and coordinated by the intercommunal hospital center André Grégoire de Montreuil (Île-de-France), was launched. The goal? Find out why the symptoms of Covid-19 persist in some patients. At the same time, another study called “Cocorec” was set up to understand why some patients face not a persistence, but a resurgence of the symptoms of the disease.