January 2024 Newsletter

A small study published in Nature Communications analyzed post-exertional malaise, feeling wiped out after exercise, in 25 patients with long COVID as well as those without long COVID. Researchers took biopsies from patients’ skeletal muscles before and after they worked out for 15 minutes on a stationary bike. It was discovered that the tissue samples taken from long COVID patients showed severe muscle damage, an impaired immune response, and small blood clots. “This is not in your head,” says Thomas Russo, MD, chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo. Russo stresses that the findings don’t mean that people with long COVID shouldn’t exercise or be active, but that “you should not do more than what your body is telling you that you can do.”

COVID-19 is seen to cause damage to blood vessels in the brain. The purpose of this opportunity is to better understand if brain vessels fully recover or remain permanently impacted after initial COVID-19 infection. If you have been hospitalized with COVID-19 and have experienced or are currently experiencing symptoms that have lasted more than four weeks, you may be eligible for this opportunity.

Participation involves 3 in-person visits over 2 years with over $390 in eligible compensation. The study procedures include memory and thinking tests, a brief physical, a blood draw, and an MRI. Free parking, travel reimbursement, compensation, and flexible scheduling is offered.

If you are interested, please contact the research team at (585) 276-6599.

An analysis of the economic impact of long COVID has been published in BMC Primary Care and considers more than 950,000 electronic health care records following the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Findings show that the financial burden of people getting long COVID is estimated to be between $23 million and $60 million per year in additional consultations from physicians, nurses, and other health practitioners. These costs represent only part of the overall increase in health care resources needed to support people with long COVID and must be considered in future pandemic planning.

Studies of long COVID are uncommon in lower-income countries. In an analysis of more than 500 studies, almost 90% were conducted in high- and upper-middle-income nations. Healthcare systems vary widely among low-income countries and resources are strained. This is making it difficult for researchers to determine the true prevalence of long COVID. Also, many researchers suspect that there are multiple mechanisms underlying long COVID. The risk of the condition may be influenced by genetic and environmental factors. “We need to have a global approach to the disease…” says Marlon Aliberti, MD, PhD, at University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Getting COVID-19 toady is much less scary, and much more common than it was three years ago. By now, many people have had it multiple times. Reinfections are not harmless. As cases continue to rise and more variants emerge, infectious-disease experts mention that reinfections could have lasting effects and contribute to a higher risk of developing long COVID. Davey Smith, MD, a virologist at University of California San Diego states, “Just because you did okay with it last year doesn’t mean that you’ll do okay with it this year.”

You can now find UBCoV, University at Buffalo's Long COVID Registry and UBMD's Long COVID Recovery Center, on social media! Follow us to stay in the loop about the latest long COVID news and for long COVID updates in Western New York.

Find us on:

If you had COVID-19 and would like to participate, enter the registry and begin filling out the questionnaire.

If you have already participated, feel free to share with others who may be interested.

Contact us: (716) 382 - 1808 / ubcov@buffalo.edu