Are pockets of Covid in the gut causing long-term symptoms?

Scientists are investigating whether reservoirs of virus hiding' in the body are contributing to long Covid

Since the early days of the pandemic it has been clear some people shed genetic material from the virus in their stools for months after catching Covid-19. The findings were initially regarded as a curiosity, but there is mounting evidence to support the idea that persistent pockets of coronavirus - in the gut, or elsewhere - may be contributing to long Covid.

Earlier this month, Prof David R Walt and colleagues at Harvard Medical School announced that they had detected Sars-CoV-2 proteins - most commonly the viral spike protein - in the blood of 65% of the long Covid patients they tested, up to 12 months after they were first diagnosed.