Jan 27, 2022 - Health

New clues emerge on long COVID

Tina Reed

Illustration of an at-home COVID swab casting a shadow in the shape of a question mark. — Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

The presence of certain autoantibodies or high amounts of coronavirus RNA in the blood could be indicators a patient has a higher chance of developing long COVID, according to a new study in the journal Cell.

Other factors include a person having Type 2 diabetes or the reactivation of the Epstein-Barr virus.

"If these pathways get confirmed, we as clinicians can actually design interventions to make people better. That is the take-home message," Steven Deeks, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco told the New York Times.

The big picture: On Wednesday, a new study out of the U.K. indicated that vaccinated adults were about 41% less likely to report lingering COVID symptoms.

An Israeli study published this week in Nature also found vaccination could reduce the risk of long COVID.

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New clues emerge on long COVID

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