Understanding Long Covid - Yale Medicine Explains - Yale Medicine

Many pathogens, especially viral pathogens, can trigger post-acute infectious syndrome like Long COVID. Often it's very difficult to know the causative agent of a post-acute infection syndrome. Long COVID has changed that equation altogether but we still don't know how to treat and better diagnose these types of diseases and prevent them. The patients who have these various post-acute infection syndromes, have a debilitating condition that prevents them from functioning in society in some instances. We are considering several hypotheses right now for mechanisms that trigger post-acute infection syndromes. The first hypothesis is persistent virus infection. Even if you clear the virus from your nose and your throat. There may be a reservoir of virus somewhere in the body that is continuing to replicate and transmit infection. The second hypothesis is autoimmunity. There may be some link between autoimmunity that's triggered by a viral infection and long COVID. The third hypothesis is reactivation of latent viruses. We all carry many viruses, but they are latent. But sometimes these viruses wake up from latency and trigger infection, and the final hypothesis is sort of inflammation that triggers chronic changes in the tissue and damages them. The Center for Infection and Immunity will focus on understanding the pathobiology of long COVID with the hopes of also understanding other post-acute infection syndromes such as myalgic encephalomyelitis chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Research over the past decades has revealed a link between infection and autoimmunity, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and age-related diseases. Our Center will strive to define potential links between infection and these other chronic diseases with the goal of developing targeted and effective therapies. 

For more information on Yale Center for Infection and Immunity or #YaleMedicine, visit: https://medicine.yale.edu/cii