Overseas studies suggest 10 per cent of Covid-19 cases will have long Covid. Photo / Getty Images
Overseas studies suggest 10 per cent of Covid-19 cases will have long Covid. Photo / Getty Images
Long Covid is a "terrible condition", with some Bay patients suffering debilitating brain fog, fatigue, shortness of breath and exercise intolerance.
That's the concern being expressed by worried local health experts as the country approaches the tail end of the Omicron outbreak peak.
Bay of Plenty District Health Board Covid-19incident controller Trevor Richardson told the Bay of Plenty Times the public health impact of long Covid "could be significant".
"Lingering symptoms can have a significant impact on the daily lives of the affected people, and their whānau," he said.
"Considering the number of people who have been or will be infected, the public health impact could be significant."
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health reported 34 New Zealanders had died from Covid-19. One of those deaths was a patient in the Bay of Plenty District Health Board.
"Some studies say about 10 per cent of Covid-19 cases will have it and some say even higher," Farrell said.
"So if there's 600,000 cases we could have 60,000 people with long Covid and that would have an effect on people's work."
What Farrell has seen has convinced him long Covid is a "terrible" condition.
"One of my patients feels fine for three hours and then crashes for three hours," Farrell said.
"It's really intermittent and comes in a variable range of intensity.
"You don't know where it's going to get you."
Farrell said the key messages were to rest physically and mentally, while continuing to follow public health advice.
Fifth Avenue Medical Centre GP Dr Luke Bradford said it was quite common for people to have symptoms for a couple of weeks after diagnosis.
However, he'd seen a handful of cases that have lasted longer.
"It's a bit early to tell. It's only around now that we're coming into the Omicron peak," Bradford said.
"I expect to see more decent numbers around the end of April. Then we'll see what we're up against."
Bradford said the most common lingering symptoms he saw in patients were fatigue and exercise intolerance.
"Respiratory symptoms are less likely to linger," Bradford said.
"The other thing we've known to linger in post-viral syndromes is POTS or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome."
Bradford explained this syndrome affected blood flow in a way that could cause a person's heart to race when they changed position, such as from lying down to standing up.
University of Otago researcher and molecular biologist Professor Warren Tate said there were overlaps between post-viral fatigue syndrome and long Covid.
"To put it simply, long Covid is what happens when someone's immune system has responded to Covid-19 by putting the body into a kind of shutdown mode and then it got stuck in that mode," Tate explained.
"It's really about the individual and their immune-system response."
Tate said not much was known about the factors that could contribute to long Covid but research into the condition and the lingering effects of Covid-19 infection in some patients is under way.
In the meantime, Tate's advice to anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19 is not to rush the recovery process.
"One shouldn't put too much stress on the body trying to rush out of a recovery from the initial infection."
Tate recommended that Covid-19 patients rest and build up to their normal activities slowly. Taking antioxidant supplements and antihistamines could also be helpful, depending on the person.
University of Otago researcher and molecular biologist Professor Warren Tate. Photo / Supplied
Toi Te Ora Bay of Plenty manukura-executive director Marama Tauranga said while most people recover completely from Covid, long-term effects were "common".
"About 10 per cent of people may find that their symptoms persist for 12 weeks or longer," Tauranga said.
"This appears to be more likely if you were admitted to hospital. These symptoms can persist for weeks, months or even longer."
Tauranga said research into long Covid was ongoing and important but vaccinated individuals seemed "less likely" to develop the condition.
Some of the most commonly reported symptoms • Fatigue • Shortness of breath • Cough • Low mood • Headaches • Difficulty concentrating, cognitive impairment or "brain fog" • Chest pain (clinical assessment may be required to investigate the specific cause) • Joint pain • Muscle aches and pains • Muscle weakness (this can be a reported symptom, and may also be clinically measured) • Ongoing changes to smell or taste • A fast-beating or "pounding" heart • Sleep disturbances Source: Ministry of Health
