‘Long Covid’ is a ‘scary’ term that causes ‘unnecessary fear’ and should be abolished, according to Queensland’s Chief Health Officer.
Dr. John Gerrard said the term was ‘probably harmful’ because it suggested Covid could create ‘unique and exceptional’ long-term symptoms, while new research showed they were almost identical to other post-viral conditions.
“We think it’s time to stop using terms like ‘long Covid,'” said Dr Gerrard, who is an expert in infectious diseases.
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr. John Gerrard says ‘long Covid’ shows symptoms almost identical to those caused by a range of viruses
‘It suggests that there is something particularly sinister and ominous about Covid-19.
“Our evidence suggests that there isn’t, that it’s not unlike other viruses. It doesn’t mean you can’t get these persistent symptoms after Covid-19, but you’re no more likely to get it after Covid than with other respiratory viruses.’
The conclusion was drawn from a recent study in Queensland, which monitored the lasting effects of about 2,400 people who caught Covid and about 2,700 people who caught other viruses such as flu.
One year after infection, about 16 percent of all respondents reported persistent symptoms, regardless of whether they had Covid or other viruses.
Three percent of Covid patients reported moderate to severe impairment, while for those with other viruses, 4.1 percent reported more severe long-term effects.
These symptoms were commonly fatigue, brain fog, and changes in taste and smell, all of which could intensify after exercise.
After controlling for factors including age, gender and whether the participants were Aboriginal, the researchers found that Covid had no longer lasting impairment than other respiratory viruses.
Dr. Gerard emphasized that Covid was a real risk for a long time, but it was not unique.
‘Post-viral syndromes occur. We absolutely say it exists, said Dr. Gerrard.
‘We see that with the Ross River virus. It is clear that we also see it with influenza.’
The medical community is debating whether long-term Covid is a unique condition or a syndrome that can be contracted from a variety of viruses
The study, which had preliminary results published in the prestigious medical journal BMJ after conducting a study of fit participants over 12 weeks, will look at other complications from Covid.
These include stroke, heart attack and myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle.
“Somewhere between four and five million Queenslanders have caught Covid-19 over the past few years, so even a very small complication rate translates to a significant number of people,” Dr. Gerrard.
Responding to the study, Murdoch University Professor of Medicine Jeremy Nicholson said the debate over long Covid was whether it was a unique condition or just a syndrome that could be triggered by a range of viruses.
He said that to prove this, the observational Queensland study was not enough because, in addition to self-reporting of symptoms, there would need to be physiological or detailed functional follow-up data.
“Until this is resolved, we should still use the long term Covid because it clarifies the underlying viral cause for a given individual, which may be relevant to future treatments,” Nicholson said Ninefax papers.
Former federal deputy chief physician dr. Nick Coatsworth, who was one of the medical experts leading Australia’s response to the Covid pandemic, disagreed.
“In my opinion it is illogical to say that the existence of long Covid must be disproved, rather the burden is on the scientific community to prove that it exists as an independent condition to other post-viral syndromes,” he tweeted.
‘If not (and it has been 4 years and multi-million dollars in research funding) then Professor Gerrard’s argument is based on this study.’