Detecting, among all the patients positive for covid-19, those who will be affected by a long form of the disease, could become reality within the next 6 months. Researchers at Imperial College London have in fact discovered that the “covid-long” patients carried antibodies which are specific to them and which were not found in the blood of patients who recovered quickly.
A blood test for general practitioners
“Unlike normal antibodies, which help fight infection, these autoantibodies mistakenly attack healthy tissue, causing continued inflammation.” explained to the BBC the Pr Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial college. VS Autoantibodies could be one of the causes of the long symptoms of Covid. British researchers hope that this breakthrough may be the first step towards the development of a diagnostic blood test for covid-long. “I am optimistic, I hope that within 6 months this blood test will be made available to general practitioners, which will allow patients to be heard and doctors to make a diagnosis “.
The covid-long is not yet fully understood. According to Prof. Altmann’s observations, it affects between 10 and 20% of covid patients, whether they are asymptomatic, or whether they have had a mild or severe form of covid-19. Britain has opened 89 clinics specializing in the treatment of covid-long but hundreds of patients are still on the waiting list.
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