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While 4% of Covid-19 contaminations result in a long-term illness according to the World Health Organization, long-term Covid still intrigues scientists, particularly due to the numerous symptoms observed.
Matthieu Lestage was infected with Covid three years ago. Then aged 43, he is athletic and is not a high-risk patient. However, he will develop a long Covid, which still prevents him from living normally. “LThe hardest part is managing effort, not being able to do what you want to do“, he testifies.World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the number of contaminations leading to long Covid at 4%, i.e. two millions of French people.
The equivalent of a micro AVC
Scientists are still struggling to understand the disease. It can cause nearly 200 different symptoms, which persist after recovery. Two studies have recently been published. According to one of them, 50% of patients present brain damage. Benjamin Davido, infectious disease specialist, evokes the equivalent of a “microstroke in young people, who have no comorbidity. In reality, what we know is that the virus (…) creates inflammation on the vessels, and these vessels (…) are very, very fine“, which can create after-effects similar to those of a stroke.