The cure for long COVID may come from Ohio
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Ohio State researchers are working toward a cure for long COVID, supported by the school's largest grant ever received for an infectious diseases study.
Why it matters: Long COVID is a complex condition disabling millions of Americans that scientists have struggled to understand.
Zoom in: Nearly one-third of Ohioans once infected with the virus say they're still experiencing symptoms at least three months later, per census data.
- That can include fatigue, dizziness, chronic cough, chest pain, heart palpitations and gastrointestinal issues, National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers say.
Driving the news: NIH awarded university researchers $15 million in hopes of finding a drug to treat and ideally prevent the condition.
How it works: The study is focused on a specific enzyme that severe COVID patients' cells produce in high levels.
- Previous OSU research, which resulted in the grant award, found that mice lacking the enzyme are protected from early and late symptoms of COVID such as lung inflammation and blood clots.
- Now, researchers will work to develop techniques to target the enzyme in more cell types, with the goal of more effectively treating the disease.
What they're saying: OSU professor Amal Amer, the grant's contact principal investigator, knows firsthand why this research is important after suffering from brain fog following a moderate bout with COVID.
- "It was the most disturbing experience of my life," she tells Axios via email. "To suddenly lose the ability to think, put ideas together, follow a simple conversation, was devastating. I am among the few fortunate patients who recovered after several months."
What's next: The study will last five years. How quickly a cure may become available to patients is not yet known.
- That depends if an existing drug could be used to target the enzyme in question, Amer says, or if a new one would need to be developed and tested, which would take longer.