Queensland Health is investigating the possibility of establishing long COVID clinics as the third wave of Omicron intensifies.
The department has confirmed a long COVID project officer has begun in the role and is liaising with key stakeholders, including general practitioner groups, to learn more about Queenslanders experiencing ongoing symptoms at least three months after a COVID-19 diagnosis.
South Australia, Victoria, NSW and the ACT have already set up long COVID clinics.
Queensland's Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said it was too early to ascertain what the impact of long COVID would be on the Sunshine State, given it had only been subject to Omicron waves when the population was highly vaccinated.
"We still don't know whether properly vaccinated people with the Omicron strain are less likely to see the long COVID syndrome," Dr Gerrard said.
"People can get long COVID even if they're vaccinated but it may well be that in a vaccinated population with Omicron that the incidence of long COVID is less.
"We're waiting for the data to come through."
Griffith University researchers are investigating biological links between long COVID and patients diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS.
Common symptoms include persistent fatigue, even following rest, sleep disturbances, memory problems, brain fog and pain.
ME/CFS researcher Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, based at Griffith University's National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases on the Gold Coast, is comparing long COVID patients to those with ME/CFS and healthy controls, analysing brain scans and blood test results.
Professor Marshall-Gradisnik said they were investigating whether dysfunction in cells identified by the Griffith team in ME/CFS patients was also present in people experiencing post-COVID symptoms that could not be explained by another diagnosis.
Based on their work, the Griffith team has identified low-dose Naltrexone as a possible treatment for ME/CFS, a drug already in trial for long COVID patients internationally.
Higher doses of Naltrexone are used to treat drug and alcohol addiction but it has also been shown experimentally in low doses to act on a cell protein that is dysfunctional in patients with ME/CFS and potentially, in people with long COVID.
"Because long COVID is in its early stages, research informs how we move forward to address this potential public health situation, so we need more research," Professor Marshall-Gradisnik said.
'The sooner, the better' that clinics are established
Jo-Ann Cuthbertson, 55, of Tannum Sands, south-east of Gladstone, on the Central Queensland coast, tested positive to COVID-19 in March and has had ongoing symptoms ever since.
"I drive my car but I can only go so far. I just go up the road. I can't drive the 25 minutes into Gladstone to do anything. I have to get somebody else to drive me. I get too dizzy and it's very hard to focus."
Ms Cuthbertson, who also has rheumatoid arthritis, had to give up her job working for a wholesaler after running out of sick leave and holidays and can no longer play lawn bowls as she did before becoming infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
She backed the establishment of long COVID clinics in Queensland, including in regional areas.
"It would be somewhere to collect information from all of us to see what is working and what is not and help everybody," said Ms Cuthbertson, who was due to get her third COVID-19 shot when she tested positive.
Brisbane woman Aviva Finberg also strongly supports the establishment of long COVID clinics after being diagnosed by her general practitioner.
"The sooner, the better," the 57-year-old said.
She developed COVID-19 in February and has had to give up her volunteer work since then because of debilitating ongoing symptoms, including excessive tiredness, balance problems and cognitive issues, such as difficulties with "word finding".
"The word could be something as simple as apple or banana but I get frustrated because I'm trying to say to the person: 'It's that thing, you know. It's fruit, it's round,'" Ms Finberg said.
Because so little is known about long COVID, she said her medical practitioners were unable to tell her whether her symptoms would last for six months or two years.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Queensland chair Bruce Willett said GPs were "sweating on" the setting up of long COVID clinics.
"We're really starting to see … cases come through," Dr Willett said. "They're not huge numbers but … we're all expecting that to grow.
"I think a lot of those cases we will be able to deal with in general practice but there's going to be a number of people who get more severe symptoms who are going to require additional care."
Dr Willett said long COVID patients with extreme symptoms would need help from rehabilitation specialists and more importantly, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and exercise physiologists to safely recover their functionality.
He said psychologists were often important as well to help patients deal with the syndrome.
Queensland had 744 people in hospital yesterday with COVID-19, including 15 who required intensive care.
