Long-Lasting Immune Abnormalities Detected in Recovered COVID-19 Patients

upstart writes:

Long-lasting immune abnormalities detected in recovered COVID-19 patients:

Eighteen months into this global pandemic researchers are increasingly investigating the long-lasting effects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Dubbed "long COVID", growing numbers of patients are reporting persistent symptoms lingering for months following the acute disease.

The Australian research is following 69 recovered COVID-19 patients, the majority of whom (47) only suffered from mild disease. Because of Australia's unique position in the world, having temporarily eliminated the virus from certain regions, the ongoing project can track long-term immune responses to an infection without worrying about re-infection or vaccination status.

This new study, not yet peer-reviewed or published in a journal, outlines the effects of an infection on the peripheral immune system in the six months after initial recovery. Blood samples were taken from each subject at three points in the six-month study.

The researchers investigated levels of around 130 different immune cells, as well as tracking antibody responses and measuring the expression of thousands of different genes relating to immune functions.

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