Two Years Later, We Still Dont Understand Long Covid. Why?
b"Depending on the data you look at, between 10 and 40 percent of people who get Covid will still have symptoms months later. For some, those symptoms will be modest. A cough, some fatigue. For others, they\\u2019ll be life-altering: Debilitating brain fog. Exhaustion. Cardiovascular problems. Blood clotting.\\n\\nThis is what we call long Covid. It\\u2019s one term for a vast range of experiences, symptoms, outcomes. It\\u2019s one term that may be hiding a vast range of maladies and causes. So what do we actually know about long Covid? What don\\u2019t we know? And why don\\u2019t we know more than we do?\\n\\nDr. Lekshmi Santhosh is an assistant professor at UCSF Medical Center, and the founder and medical director of UCSF\\u2019s long Covid and post-ICU clinic. Her clinic opened in May 2020 and was one of the first to focus on treating long Covid patients specifically. We discuss the wildly broad range of symptoms that can qualify as long Covid; the confusing overlaps between Covid symptoms and other diseases; whether age, race, sex and pre-existing conditions affect a person\\u2019s chances of contracting long Covid; why it\\u2019s so difficult to answer a seemingly simple question like, \\u201cHow many people have gotten long Covid?\\u201d; what to make of a recent study that seemingly undermines the biological existence of long Covid; how worried we should be about correlations between Covid and medical disasters like heart attacks, strokes and abnormal blood clotting; and more.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\n\\u201cPost\\u2013COVID Conditions Among Adult COVID-19 Survivors Aged 18\\u201364 and \\u226565 Years \\u2014 United States, March 2020\\u2013November 2021\\u201d by Lara Bull-Otterson, Sarah Baca1, Sharon Saydah, Tegan K. Boehmer, Stacey Adjei, Simone Gray and Aaron M. Harris\\n\\n\\u201cLong COVID after breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection\\u201d by Ziyad Al-Aly, Benjamin Bowe and Yan Xie\\n\\n\\u201cA Longitudinal Study of COVID-19 Sequelae and Immunity: Baseline Findings\\u201d by Michael C. Sneller, C. Jason Liang, Adriana R. Marques, et al.\\n\\n\\u201cPositive Epstein\\u2013Barr virus detection in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients\\u201d by Ting Chen, Jiayi Song, Hongli Liu, Hongmei Zheng and Changzheng Chen\\n\\n\\u201cRisk factors and disease profile of post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection in UK users of the COVID Symptom Study app\\u201d by Michela Antonelli, Rose S. Penfold, Jordi Merino, Carole H. Sudre, Erika Molteni, Sarah Berry, et al.\\n\\n\\u201cUnderstanding and Improving Recovery From COVID-19\\u201d by Aluko A. Hope\\n\\n\\u201cMarkers of Immune Activation and Inflammation in Individuals With Postacute Sequelae of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection\\u201d by Michael J. Peluso, Scott Lu, Alex F. Tang, Matthew S. Durstenfeld, et al.\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nIn Shock by Dr. Rana Awdish\\n\\nEvery Deep-Drawn Breath by Wes Ely\\n\\nMountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder\\n\\nWe're hiring a researcher! You can apply here or by visiting nytimes.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/News\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\n\\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog\\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Haylee Millikan and Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. Special thanks to Kristin Lin, Kristina Samulewski, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly and Lauren Nichols."