Coronavirus can become a chronic disease

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-12 17:37

The media reported that the coronavirus could become a chronic disease. This assumption was made on the basis of data from studies carried out in Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as reports from the State Committee under the Ministry of Health of China.

Sources of the hypothesis

The assumptions that the coronavirus can become a chronic disease appeared in periodicals relatively recently, but the logical prerequisites for it were identified even during the passage of the first wave of the pandemic. For example, in February 2020, Chinese doctors reported nearly 200 cases of re-infection of patients who were believed to be definitively healed of the insidious virus.

P. Volchkov, head of the MIPT genomic engineering laboratory, said that in the case of a common infection, the pathogenic agent is completely destroyed. The fact that some of those who have been ill for a long time persist negative symptoms, may indicate its further presence in the body.

There are different opinions of experts about the so-called re-infection:

• a latent form in which the virus remained, since the immune system was unable to completely control it;
• mutation of the strain, in which the immune system does not have time to produce antibodies at a sufficient rate;
• errors of testing that did not determine the presence of a pathogen in the body of a still sick patient.

P. Volchkov suggested a possible choice of the immune system, which cannot completely control the pathogen, in favor of coexistence with it. This not only repeats the scenario of any viral disease that has turned into a chronic form, but also does not force her to destroy her own tissues, which are heavily infected with the coronavirus.

Long-term preservation is characteristic of many infectious diseases - suffice it to recall hepatitis of variable etiology. The virus can not only persist for a long time, but also stay in different localizations, like herpes. While it is not categorically asserted that the coronavirus can become a chronic disease, this is only a hypothesis that has a basis and deserves a comprehensive consideration.

What can be asserted with confidence

European scientists are based on little factual material and only assume the possibility of a chronic form based on observations of the passage of the rehabilitation period.

In China, there was a case in March when a patient with a mild form was discharged from the hospital after recovery and died on readmission.

In Russia, almost one and a half thousand patients in the post-coronavirus period were studied, in whom during the quarter (to a greater or lesser extent) symptoms of the presence of the virus persisted - from tachycardia to febrile syndrome. So far, there is no evidence of the presence of a virus in the body, as well as the presence of a mutated strain.

The latest news posted an interview with the scientific director of the network of clinics, Y. Zakharov, who is sure that the matter is not in the chronic course of Covid-19. He argues that the variety of symptoms may not be caused by a virus, but by an inflammatory reaction that remains in systems and organs. Another suggestion is damage to the vagus nerve, which conducts basic signals of well-being to the brain.

The author of the latter assumption is seriously concerned about the huge number of people who have suffered a mild coronavirus and do not undergo any rehabilitation. He is sure that inflammatory processes are the result of the action of an insidious pathogen in the human body. They can also appear in those who are easily affected by the disease.

Scientists who do not deny the possibility of the transition of a viral infection into a chronic form are inclined to believe that the high probability of detected cases of re-infection is not in a new infection, but in the errors of testing systems. Until now, there are no tests with a 100% guarantee, which means that the test system in some cases may not notice the pathogen residing in the body. This belief is based on the fact that the antibodies produced could not weaken in such a short time.