Research Identifies Change In Blood Proteins In People With Long COVID

NBC News (1/18, Mantel) reports, “Scientists have identified a persistent change in a handful of blood proteins in people with long Covid that indicates that an important part of their immune system remains on high alert for months after an acute infection.” The research followed 113 patients with COVID-19 “for up to one year after they were first infected, along with 39 healthy controls.” After six months, “40 patients had developed long Covid symptoms.” In the study, “repeated blood samples turned up important differences in their blood: A group of proteins indicated that a part of the body’s immune system called the complement system remained activated long after it should have returned to normal.” The findings were published in Science. MedPage Today (1/18, George) reports blood samples from patients with long COVID “showed changes to blood serum proteins at 6 months that indicated activation of the immune system’s complement cascade, altered coagulation, and tissue injury,” the research found.