A new research initiative will explore whether the persistence of coronavirus in the body plays a role in the development of long COVID, a poorly understood syndrome in which symptoms can last for months or even years following an infection.
The Long COVID Research Initiative will try to determine if SARS-CoV-2 is still present in those with long-haul symptoms and, if so, how it might be contributing to their ailments.
The endurance of the virus in the body is one of several potential root causes of long COVID being investigated by scientists. Others include the possibility that infection leads to blood-clotting issues that damage the circulatory system; that the coronavirus might destroy key tissues during the acute stage of an infection, leading to longer-lasting illness; and that the virus triggers an overactive immune response that results in harmful inflammation or prompts certain antibodies to attack a patient's own cells.
