8 ms·

Could long Covid be linked to herpes viruses? Early data offer a hint

79 points by nope96 4y ago

PaulKeeble 4y ago
They have been asking the same question about ME/CFS for decades. Either Herpes or Epstein Barr Virus, both of which often get reactivated after certain infections. So far anti virals that work against Herpes and EBV haven't done much to aid sufferers so if they are responsible no known treatments help most people.
pessimizer 4y ago
Covid reactivated my cold sores. I usually get one every year or two, can feel it when it's about to happen, and Abreva (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Docosanol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Docosanol) kills it before it even breaks the skin. During covid I got a vicious one on my lip like I've never had before and that Abreva had no effect on, and another awful one in my nose which has never happened before. Almost the only bad effect of covid that lasted longer than the first day. Can covid damage some immune subsystem that usually suppresses herpes?
- thewizardofaus 4y ago
  Doesn't the herpes virus generally reactivate when the immune system is being run down? I know there is literature to suggest that Cold Sore outbreaks in an individual generally occur during cold and flu outbreaks.
  - blooalien 4y ago
    Aren't most variants of cold and flu members of the corona-family of virus? If so, it would seem logical that COVID also being a coronavirus would have the same (or at least extremely similar) effect on cold sores as other members of the same viral "family" would cause.
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    I'm pretty sure that's why they're called cold sores, and I've had them happen during flus before, although not during the vast majority of them. Nevertheless, I haven't ever had a situation like I got with covid, and the actual covid symptoms were minor (after the first day, which was a weird intense generalized weakness that eventually went away.) Covid is a cold, anyway. A strong, strange cold.
  - fotta 4y ago
    My cold sores will break out after any sort of physical stress (excluding exercise). Ironically I get them most often after heat exhaustion.
- FollowingTheDao 4y ago
  COVID infection causes nutrient deficiencies that weaken the immune response, yes. Zinc, B6, and few others maybe like selenium.
- i_have_an_idea 4y ago
  As a long-time cold sore host, I have figured out several things that are true (for me): 1) Generally any viral infection that runs down my immune system can create a cold sore. A flu, a bad cold or covid. 2) Sometimes just stress and/or being sleep deprived will do it, but there usually needs to be at least 3-4 months since the last outbreak for that to happen. 3) You're lucky if Abreva works for you. For me, the creams do almost nothing. The only thing that seems to help is Valaciclovir oral tablets. If taken early enough, they can prevent the outbreak or make it a very small cold sore. So, in summary, I don't think there's anything special about covid with regard to cold sores. It breaks me out about the same as any other virus that runs me down / gives me a few days of fever. You should also probably check out Valaciclovir, as it sounds like your immune system does quite well against cold sores, so the extra boost from a more powerful antiviral might completely stop your outbreaks.
  - pram 4y ago
    Valaciclovir is magic. I use the 1G tablet whenever I feel the tingles. Between that, routine vitamins, and habitual chapstick use I haven’t had a bad outbreak for almost a decade. Before that I’d get one like every other month it seemed.
    - i_have_an_idea 4y ago
      I used to get more outbreaks when I was in a worse physical shape (overweight, little exercise). Then it was maybe one every 2 months. Now I'm in the normal BMI range and I exercise regularly (albeit not to a high level) and my outbreaks are 2 times a year. Valaciclovir definitely helps, but one's own immune system plays a huge role. After all, most people in the world have that virus, few actually get outbreaks.
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    My cold sores are rare and rarely break the skin; I would never take something systemic rather than topical (and weak, Abreva is also a food additive) to control them. The only time they've ever been this bad was covid. I've had 1000 colds and flus over the past half-century, so I do have a basis for comparison.
- treeman79 4y ago
  I’m on blood thinners and Covid required me to double my dosage to not have clots. Lasted about six months before I was able to lower dosage.
bamboozled 4y ago
Does "long Covid" actually exist, can one get a blood test, scan or something like that done to have it diagnosed?
- Isinlor 4y ago
  Yes, there are clear biological markers related to reported symptoms of Long COVID. Increases in exhausted immune T cells and lower levels of cortisol. Also, patient reported outcomes alone are sufficient to identify Long COVID patients with ~90% accuracy. https://twitter.com/VirusesImmunity/status/1557394192225157122 https://twitter.com/VirusesImmunity/status/15573941922251571... https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.22278592v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.22278592v...
  - timr 4y ago
    Take this paper with a huge grain of salt. They went on a fishing expedition, then pointed an ML model at the data and reported some clusters. This is...questionable methodology. ML models will find a way to draw a discriminatory boundary for almost any classification problem. On the other hand, there was this paper [1][2] from the NIH, which was a well-controlled, pre-registered cohort study, did pretty much every clinical test imaginable (about 150 different measurements per person), and found no measurable differences between "long covid" people and controls. This is a much better study, and rebuts the claim. [1] https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/98885?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2022-05-23&eun=g1662251d0r https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/98885... [2] https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M21-4905 https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M21-4905
    - belltaco 4y ago
      People with Long COVID May Still Have Spike Proteins in Their Blood https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-with-long-covid-may-still-have-spike-proteins-in-their-blood1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-with-long-...
      - 4y ago
FollowingTheDao 4y ago
Any infection you have will deplete one nutrient or another, and if you have a genetic susceptibility, this depletion might be much greater than someone else. To correct these nutrition depletion to keep these viruses in check, you will need to take mega doses of the supplement for a short period. If you are still one of these people that think zinc does not play a role in COVID outcomes I have nothing left to say but: By destroying the ACE2 receptor, SARS2 causes a depletion of zinc since zinc makes up the structure of ACE2 and prevents the recycling of zinc in the cell. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197122030730X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197122... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18880-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18880-0 And hey and guess what. They find that people with zinc deficiency have more herpes out breaks! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283972/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283972/ Why? Because the same thing happens with herpes but with NECTIN1 receptor and ADAM10. Low zinc means less ADAM10 activity and more NECTIN1 on the cell and therefor more herepes virus replication. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906284/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906284/ So what might be happening with the low cortisol they speak of in the study? ACE2 is all over the adrenal gland, and when ACE2 is destroyed the adrenal gland shuts down and cannot release as much cortisol. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.593179/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.5931... Now, many of you will come back as show me all the studies that reveal that zinc actually reduces cortisol. And I agree, but do you know why? When someone is not zinc deficiency, adding more zinc will trigger ADAM17 to cleave ACE2 off the cell and create Soluble ACE2. Zinc the ACE2 is not on the adrenal gland anymore cortisol will not be released. https://www.mdpi.com/viruses/viruses-12-00491/article_deploy/html/images/viruses-12-00491-g001.png https://www.mdpi.com/viruses/viruses-12-00491/article_deploy... But in a zinc deficient state there is not enough ACE2 to start with and ADAM17 activity is also low. By taking zinc and correcting the deficiency you will increase activity for both ACE2 and ADAM17. If you know someone or if you have long covid, I highly suggest that you at least get your serum zinc levels tested.
- nums 4y ago
  Great comment. From prior research, the hormonal interactions around the thyroid and immune system are complex. You've boiled it down fairly well here as related to zinc. Wasn't there some discussion about hydroxychloroquine being effectively only in conjunction with zinc as the hydroxychloroquine encourages cellular uptake of zinc. Ergo, zinc is the key ingredient. Further, I seem to recall the book "The end of alzheimer's" (high recommend) talked alot about zinc wrt neurological health.
mentalpiracy 4y ago
Just to add anecdata: both myself and partner got our booster in early december 2021. Right before christmas, my partner came down with covid. I didn't bother to isolate from her because it would have been ineffective given our living space. I never came down with symptoms myself - but 3 weeks later, I developed shingles, aka herpes zoster. Do not recommend the experience.
- swatcoder 4y ago
  Shingles outbreaks are increasingly common for those of us too old to have gotten the chickenpox vaccine but still too young to receive the shingles vaccine. It’s miserable, and maybe your case was indeed triggered by some immune system modulation at the time, but plenty of us were having it sneak up on us in the years before too. I wouldn’t think too much of it as covid-related, per se.
  - woofyman 4y ago
    You can get an off label vaccine even if you’re too young.
  - selimthegrim 4y ago
    Except for those of us who get shingles as teenagers (after having had childhood chickenpox)
- Kenji 4y ago
MontyCarloHall 4y ago
> It is common — affecting anywhere from 5% to 50% of people who contract COVID-19 Studies that claim these prevalences either suffer from massive selection bias (e.g. only use COVID cases that were severe enough to end up in health records [0]) or consider even minor symptoms lasting more than a few weeks (like a persistent cough) as “long COVID.” Upwards of 80% of the US had been infected with COVID as of June 2022 [1]. If serious long-COVID symptoms indeed occurred in 5-50% of COVID cases, that would mean 4-40% of Americans are currently suffering from debilitating long-term illness, which would be obvious on a societal level. We simply do not see this [2]. Do severe long term COVID cases exist? Absolutely, as is the case with other infections, like influenza [3]. But they are nowhere near as prevalent as otherwise reputable publications claim. [0] https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/more-than-1-in-5-covid-survivors-may-develop-long-covid-cdc-study-suggests/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/more-than-1-in-5-cov... [1] https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/Projects/COVID/2022/102_briefing_United_States_of_America_8.pdf https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/Project... [2] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/06/long-covid-chronic-illness-disability/661285/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/06/long-covi... [3] https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58726775.amp https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58726775.amp
- nope96 4y ago
  > But they are nowhere near as prevalent as otherwise reputable publications claim. So the CDC is just junk science? Nearly One in Five American Adults Who Have Had COVID-19 Still Have “Long COVID” https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220622.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/...
  - MontyCarloHall 4y ago
    > So the CDC is just junk science? This particular study certainly is. The Pulse Survey cited was not a rigorous longitudinal case/control study, but rather a voluntary online poll with a dismal response rate of only 4-6% [0]. This could easily result in selection bias: people suffering from (or who just believe they’re suffering from) long COVID are much more likely to respond than healthy people. Indeed, the CDC admits that it only attempted to adjust for nonresponse bias based on geographical area [1], and not anything related to actually having (long) COVID. The results of this study are totally meaningless at best, and disinformation at worst. [0] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm [1] https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/technical-documentation/hhp/2020_HPS_NR_Bias_Report-final.pdf https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/technical-docu...
DoreenMichele 4y ago
It's probably related to Zinc deficiency caused by covid. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3897803/#:~:text=Zinc%20ions%20have%20been%20reported%20to%20be%20antiviral,and%20severity%20of%20human%20orolabial%20and%20genital%20infections https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3897803/#:~:text=Zinc%20ions.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22845574 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22845574
- FollowingTheDao 4y ago
  Yes, have you seen my comment?
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    This one? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32632583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32632583 The parts I understand make sense. I'm not familiar with some of the things you talk about.
- amelius 4y ago
  > It's probably related to Zinc deficiency caused by covid. Wouldn't that be known by now given that nutrient deficiencies should probably be part of a standard test for long-covid patients?
- Invictus0 4y ago
  Lol. You think people suffering from chronic illnesses aren't trying every supplement cocktail in existence? "Just take zinc to cure long covid" is just as bad as thinking that fruit juice will cure your cancer.
  - DoreenMichele 4y ago
    "Just take zinc to cure long covid" is just as bad as thinking that fruit juice will cure your cancer. That's not remotely what I said.
  - mistermann 4y ago
    > You think people suffering from chronic illnesses aren't trying every supplement cocktail in existence? Do you genuinely believe it is objectively true that each person is doing this?
troon-lover 4y ago

79 points by nope96 4y ago

They have been asking the same question about ME/CFS for decades. Either Herpes or Epstein Barr Virus, both of which often get reactivated after certain infections. So far anti virals that work against Herpes and EBV haven't done much to aid sufferers so if they are responsible no known treatments help most people.

pessimizer 4y ago

Covid reactivated my cold sores. I usually get one every year or two, can feel it when it's about to happen, and Abreva (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Docosanol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Docosanol) kills it before it even breaks the skin. During covid I got a vicious one on my lip like I've never had before and that Abreva had no effect on, and another awful one in my nose which has never happened before. Almost the only bad effect of covid that lasted longer than the first day. Can covid damage some immune subsystem that usually suppresses herpes?

thewizardofaus 4y ago
Doesn't the herpes virus generally reactivate when the immune system is being run down? I know there is literature to suggest that Cold Sore outbreaks in an individual generally occur during cold and flu outbreaks.
- blooalien 4y ago
  Aren't most variants of cold and flu members of the corona-family of virus? If so, it would seem logical that COVID also being a coronavirus would have the same (or at least extremely similar) effect on cold sores as other members of the same viral "family" would cause.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  I'm pretty sure that's why they're called cold sores, and I've had them happen during flus before, although not during the vast majority of them. Nevertheless, I haven't ever had a situation like I got with covid, and the actual covid symptoms were minor (after the first day, which was a weird intense generalized weakness that eventually went away.) Covid is a cold, anyway. A strong, strange cold.
- fotta 4y ago
  My cold sores will break out after any sort of physical stress (excluding exercise). Ironically I get them most often after heat exhaustion.
FollowingTheDao 4y ago
COVID infection causes nutrient deficiencies that weaken the immune response, yes. Zinc, B6, and few others maybe like selenium.
i_have_an_idea 4y ago
As a long-time cold sore host, I have figured out several things that are true (for me): 1) Generally any viral infection that runs down my immune system can create a cold sore. A flu, a bad cold or covid. 2) Sometimes just stress and/or being sleep deprived will do it, but there usually needs to be at least 3-4 months since the last outbreak for that to happen. 3) You're lucky if Abreva works for you. For me, the creams do almost nothing. The only thing that seems to help is Valaciclovir oral tablets. If taken early enough, they can prevent the outbreak or make it a very small cold sore. So, in summary, I don't think there's anything special about covid with regard to cold sores. It breaks me out about the same as any other virus that runs me down / gives me a few days of fever. You should also probably check out Valaciclovir, as it sounds like your immune system does quite well against cold sores, so the extra boost from a more powerful antiviral might completely stop your outbreaks.
- pram 4y ago
  Valaciclovir is magic. I use the 1G tablet whenever I feel the tingles. Between that, routine vitamins, and habitual chapstick use I haven’t had a bad outbreak for almost a decade. Before that I’d get one like every other month it seemed.
  - i_have_an_idea 4y ago
    I used to get more outbreaks when I was in a worse physical shape (overweight, little exercise). Then it was maybe one every 2 months. Now I'm in the normal BMI range and I exercise regularly (albeit not to a high level) and my outbreaks are 2 times a year. Valaciclovir definitely helps, but one's own immune system plays a huge role. After all, most people in the world have that virus, few actually get outbreaks.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  My cold sores are rare and rarely break the skin; I would never take something systemic rather than topical (and weak, Abreva is also a food additive) to control them. The only time they've ever been this bad was covid. I've had 1000 colds and flus over the past half-century, so I do have a basis for comparison.
treeman79 4y ago
I’m on blood thinners and Covid required me to double my dosage to not have clots. Lasted about six months before I was able to lower dosage.

bamboozled 4y ago

Does "long Covid" actually exist, can one get a blood test, scan or something like that done to have it diagnosed?

Isinlor 4y ago
Yes, there are clear biological markers related to reported symptoms of Long COVID. Increases in exhausted immune T cells and lower levels of cortisol. Also, patient reported outcomes alone are sufficient to identify Long COVID patients with ~90% accuracy. https://twitter.com/VirusesImmunity/status/1557394192225157122 https://twitter.com/VirusesImmunity/status/15573941922251571... https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.22278592v1 https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.08.09.22278592v...
- timr 4y ago
  Take this paper with a huge grain of salt. They went on a fishing expedition, then pointed an ML model at the data and reported some clusters. This is...questionable methodology. ML models will find a way to draw a discriminatory boundary for almost any classification problem. On the other hand, there was this paper [1][2] from the NIH, which was a well-controlled, pre-registered cohort study, did pretty much every clinical test imaginable (about 150 different measurements per person), and found no measurable differences between "long covid" people and controls. This is a much better study, and rebuts the claim. [1] https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/98885?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2022-05-23&eun=g1662251d0r https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/98885... [2] https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M21-4905 https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M21-4905
  - belltaco 4y ago
    People with Long COVID May Still Have Spike Proteins in Their Blood https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-with-long-covid-may-still-have-spike-proteins-in-their-blood1/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-with-long-...
    - 4y ago

FollowingTheDao 4y ago

Any infection you have will deplete one nutrient or another, and if you have a genetic susceptibility, this depletion might be much greater than someone else. To correct these nutrition depletion to keep these viruses in check, you will need to take mega doses of the supplement for a short period. If you are still one of these people that think zinc does not play a role in COVID outcomes I have nothing left to say but: By destroying the ACE2 receptor, SARS2 causes a depletion of zinc since zinc makes up the structure of ACE2 and prevents the recycling of zinc in the cell. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197122030730X https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197122... https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18880-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18880-0 And hey and guess what. They find that people with zinc deficiency have more herpes out breaks! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283972/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283972/ Why? Because the same thing happens with herpes but with NECTIN1 receptor and ADAM10. Low zinc means less ADAM10 activity and more NECTIN1 on the cell and therefor more herepes virus replication. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906284/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906284/ So what might be happening with the low cortisol they speak of in the study? ACE2 is all over the adrenal gland, and when ACE2 is destroyed the adrenal gland shuts down and cannot release as much cortisol. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.593179/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.5931... Now, many of you will come back as show me all the studies that reveal that zinc actually reduces cortisol. And I agree, but do you know why? When someone is not zinc deficiency, adding more zinc will trigger ADAM17 to cleave ACE2 off the cell and create Soluble ACE2. Zinc the ACE2 is not on the adrenal gland anymore cortisol will not be released. https://www.mdpi.com/viruses/viruses-12-00491/article_deploy/html/images/viruses-12-00491-g001.png https://www.mdpi.com/viruses/viruses-12-00491/article_deploy... But in a zinc deficient state there is not enough ACE2 to start with and ADAM17 activity is also low. By taking zinc and correcting the deficiency you will increase activity for both ACE2 and ADAM17. If you know someone or if you have long covid, I highly suggest that you at least get your serum zinc levels tested.

nums 4y ago
Great comment. From prior research, the hormonal interactions around the thyroid and immune system are complex. You've boiled it down fairly well here as related to zinc. Wasn't there some discussion about hydroxychloroquine being effectively only in conjunction with zinc as the hydroxychloroquine encourages cellular uptake of zinc. Ergo, zinc is the key ingredient. Further, I seem to recall the book "The end of alzheimer's" (high recommend) talked alot about zinc wrt neurological health.

mentalpiracy 4y ago

Just to add anecdata: both myself and partner got our booster in early december 2021. Right before christmas, my partner came down with covid. I didn't bother to isolate from her because it would have been ineffective given our living space. I never came down with symptoms myself - but 3 weeks later, I developed shingles, aka herpes zoster. Do not recommend the experience.

swatcoder 4y ago
Shingles outbreaks are increasingly common for those of us too old to have gotten the chickenpox vaccine but still too young to receive the shingles vaccine. It’s miserable, and maybe your case was indeed triggered by some immune system modulation at the time, but plenty of us were having it sneak up on us in the years before too. I wouldn’t think too much of it as covid-related, per se.
- woofyman 4y ago
  You can get an off label vaccine even if you’re too young.
- selimthegrim 4y ago
  Except for those of us who get shingles as teenagers (after having had childhood chickenpox)
Kenji 4y ago

MontyCarloHall 4y ago

> It is common — affecting anywhere from 5% to 50% of people who contract COVID-19 Studies that claim these prevalences either suffer from massive selection bias (e.g. only use COVID cases that were severe enough to end up in health records [0]) or consider even minor symptoms lasting more than a few weeks (like a persistent cough) as “long COVID.” Upwards of 80% of the US had been infected with COVID as of June 2022 [1]. If serious long-COVID symptoms indeed occurred in 5-50% of COVID cases, that would mean 4-40% of Americans are currently suffering from debilitating long-term illness, which would be obvious on a societal level. We simply do not see this [2]. Do severe long term COVID cases exist? Absolutely, as is the case with other infections, like influenza [3]. But they are nowhere near as prevalent as otherwise reputable publications claim. [0] https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/more-than-1-in-5-covid-survivors-may-develop-long-covid-cdc-study-suggests/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/more-than-1-in-5-cov... [1] https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/Projects/COVID/2022/102_briefing_United_States_of_America_8.pdf https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/Project... [2] https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/06/long-covid-chronic-illness-disability/661285/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/06/long-covi... [3] https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58726775.amp https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58726775.amp

nope96 4y ago
> But they are nowhere near as prevalent as otherwise reputable publications claim. So the CDC is just junk science? Nearly One in Five American Adults Who Have Had COVID-19 Still Have “Long COVID” https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220622.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/...
- MontyCarloHall 4y ago
  > So the CDC is just junk science? This particular study certainly is. The Pulse Survey cited was not a rigorous longitudinal case/control study, but rather a voluntary online poll with a dismal response rate of only 4-6% [0]. This could easily result in selection bias: people suffering from (or who just believe they’re suffering from) long COVID are much more likely to respond than healthy people. Indeed, the CDC admits that it only attempted to adjust for nonresponse bias based on geographical area [1], and not anything related to actually having (long) COVID. The results of this study are totally meaningless at best, and disinformation at worst. [0] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm [1] https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/technical-documentation/hhp/2020_HPS_NR_Bias_Report-final.pdf https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/technical-docu...

DoreenMichele 4y ago

It's probably related to Zinc deficiency caused by covid. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3897803/#:~:text=Zinc%20ions%20have%20been%20reported%20to%20be%20antiviral,and%20severity%20of%20human%20orolabial%20and%20genital%20infections https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3897803/#:~:text=Zinc%20ions.... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22845574 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22845574

FollowingTheDao 4y ago
Yes, have you seen my comment?
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  This one? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32632583 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32632583 The parts I understand make sense. I'm not familiar with some of the things you talk about.
amelius 4y ago
> It's probably related to Zinc deficiency caused by covid. Wouldn't that be known by now given that nutrient deficiencies should probably be part of a standard test for long-covid patients?
Invictus0 4y ago
Lol. You think people suffering from chronic illnesses aren't trying every supplement cocktail in existence? "Just take zinc to cure long covid" is just as bad as thinking that fruit juice will cure your cancer.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  "Just take zinc to cure long covid" is just as bad as thinking that fruit juice will cure your cancer. That's not remotely what I said.
- mistermann 4y ago
  > You think people suffering from chronic illnesses aren't trying every supplement cocktail in existence? Do you genuinely believe it is objectively true that each person is doing this?

troon-lover 4y ago