We are the first center in Greece that started the first interventional treatment with anti-inflammatory medicine in patients with long covid, who are selected according to strict criteria, says the pathologist – infectious disease specialist on Fm Agency and on Tania Madouvalou’s show “104.9 MYSTIKA HYGEIAS”, associate professor EKPA at the 3rd University Pathology Clinic of the “I Sotiria” hospital and scientific manager of the Post-Covid Clinic, Garifalia Poulakou. “Our practice is participating in the international multicenter study that is being carried out under the umbrella of the Hellenic Institute for the Study of Sepsis with Evangelos Giamarellos Bourboulis as the main researcher. This is a study that has been submitted to the EU and the EOF and has been licensed.” As the professor explains, the patients participating in the study are checked for lung findings and for the presence of inflammation. “When they meet these criteria they enter the study, which has been started by our team for about two months and is expected to last more than a year. More than 20 patients have joined and others from other centers in Greece and abroad will gradually join. So far, there is no approved treatment for long covid, as all treatments are supportive, Ms. Poulakou emphasizes, expressing at the same time the belief and hope that this large international study will have successful results.

55% of the mildly ill population has long covid syndrome – Over 200 recorded symptoms

The Post Covid Clinic of Sotiria is considered a center of reference, as it was the first to open in the pandemic and has been operating since May 2020, with a continuous flow of patients since then. The majority of them, as Ms. Poulakou says, are not people who have gone through hospitalization, as one might expect, but suffer from long-term symptoms, while they were slightly ill at home. “We have exceeded 3000 patients since the beginning of the pandemic and we are still monitoring around 200 on a rolling basis, because some of them have been cured or some are coming for a standard re-check.” The professor estimates that the post-covid clinics will remain, as for some patients it takes months or years to get rid of the symptoms. But what are the symptoms of the latest Omicron variant? And what are the differences compared to the previous variants? “It seems that it does a little less long covid, than the previous ones, but the percentages are not negligible. According to recently published studies from China, 6 to 12 months after illness, 55% of people who were mildly ill and did not require hospitalization, have long covid symptoms. Symptoms are mainly fatigue, memory and mood disorders, thinking disorders, chest pain and cough. In earlier variants, respiratory symptoms were more common. Of course, there are many symptoms that constitute what we now call long covid and they now exceed 200”.

Vaccination and antivirals protect against long covid

Vaccination in children does not just reduce the risk of severe acute disease, but is a protective shield for long covid, showed a US study, involving researchers from 17 health systems in the US, and published in the scientific journal Pediatrics. So if someone is vaccinated they are less at risk of long covid? asked Mrs. Poulakou. “Most studies have shown that the vaccination we insist on, on the one hand, prevents very bad outcomes, i.e. serious illness, admission to hospital or ICU, on the other hand, it also reduces long covid. There have also been studies that show that someone who is sick, but stays at home, has the same chance of getting long covid as someone else who was hospitalized.” As at the beginning of the pandemic, the severity of the disease does not play a role in whether someone will develop long-term symptoms. Also, another important parameter in the prevention of long covid, is the timely taking of antivirals according to recent data, as reported by the distinguished infectious disease specialist.

Long-term flu symptoms are not a new phenomenon

Regarding the long-term symptoms of flu, which are recently referred to as long flu, Ms. Poulakou comments: “With the pandemic flu of 1920, a symptom appeared, which was long-lasting and was called lethargic encephalopathy. This is now history. However, with the flu we have a chronicity of symptoms. However, they do not have to do so much with the mental sphere, cognitive functions, sleep, etc. as with covid19, but with the respiratory system. A large study, which was published in the “Lancet Infectious Diseases” recently and includes pre-pandemic data on the flu, changed the scene a bit 1-2 months ago, as a result of which the term long flu has started to circulate. According to the study, it seems that the flu also greatly affects those who are sick and hospitalized, with an increase in mortality, readmissions, and precipitation of the quality of life. People who already have pulmonary problems are at risk from the flu, and this can cost them a long-term condition (with symptoms such as cough, shortness of breath and worsening of the pre-existing lung disease), which if we want to call it long flu”. And what is the period of time that determines the long-term appearance of the flu, Mrs. Poulakou is asked: “After 3 months always. But it is not the flu as such, but its complications and the dysregulation of the underlying disease.” The phenomenon as he clarifies is not new. “It’s been observed for years, it’s just been published in the last few months and now we’ve gained the sensitivity and we’ve recognized it now using what we’ve learned from the coronavirus pandemic as a guide.”