3 ms·

Uh oh. We don't even understand "long COVID" yet. There's clearly a long-term aftermath, but it's not well understood. There are other diseases where that occu

Uh oh. We don't even understand "long COVID" yet. There's clearly a long-term aftermath, but it's not well understood. There are other diseases where that occurs, despite the initial infection seeming to be over. Chickenpox as a child can turn into shingles as an adult.[1] The virus is never completely cleared. [1] https://health.clevelandclinic.org/can-you-get-shingles-if-you-havent-had-chickenpox https://health.clevelandclinic.org/can-you-get-shingles-if-y...

timr 1y ago
Please stop making this comparison. There's a clear reason why chickenpox can re-emerge as shingles later in life - herpesvirus maintains a circular chromosome within the nerve cells. It's a known feature of the virus family, and it's detectable [1]. There's absolutely no reason to believe that SARS-CoV2 has similar capability, and those who cling to this hypothesis are engaging in pseudoscience. Viruses are not so complex that we would trivially overlook a feature that would literally change the phylogenetic classification in a dramatic way. [1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5584196/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5584196/
- privatelypublic 1y ago
  > Viruses are not so complex that we would trivially overlook a feature that would literally change the phylogenetic classification in a dramatic way. You might think that, but in the past two decades theres been so many "how did we miss that?" in so many fields. I'll let field experts bring specifics up- I only know popularized examples like Roman Concrete. And the ever-easy Mars unit-conversion error.
  - timr 1y ago
    You can speculate if you like, but the claim you're advancing is fantastical to anyone who has studied virology, and requires an accordingly fantastic level of supporting evidence.
    - privatelypublic 1y ago
      The only claim I'm making is "never underestimate humanity's ability to hold to an initial assessment/viewpoint/assumption." Which has so many examples it's almost a truism.
- pessimizer 1y ago
  I assume, with this level of confidence, that we understand everything about Parkinson's now. It is a nerve disease so closely associated with influenza that there was speculation in the 60s that when the last child born during the Spanish Flu epidemic died, it would be completely eliminated as a common disease. Shouldn't we just look for the ring that we learned how to detect herpes in nerves? Because every virus has to be constructed exactly like herpes in order to infect nerve cells, apparently.
  - privatelypublic 1y ago
    Might I suggest, instead of taking all the piss- to find an actual flaw in the given argument and highlight it with words?
- Animats 1y ago
  Right, chickenpox has a very different aftereffect mechanism. I'm just arguing against the popular "when it's over, it's over" position.
PaulKeeble 1y ago
HIV 10 years later turns into AIDs. Immune disruptions are especially scary because without an immune system the constant bombardment the human body is under from viruses, bacteria and fungi overwhelms us quickly. Finding Covid viral fragments in people long after the infection is very concerning, we don't know how its staying in the body or where but it seems likely its persisting.
ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
Measles, too: https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/09/child-dies-of-horrifying-measles-complication-in-los-angeles/ https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/09/child-dies-of-horrify... Several variants of Malaria can be The Gift That Keeps On Giving: https://www.mmv.org/malaria/symptoms-and-treatments/relapsing-malaria https://www.mmv.org/malaria/symptoms-and-treatments/relapsin...
- timr 1y ago
  Malaria is not a virus. It's caused by a eukaryotic microorganism.
  - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
    I know. I guess that I should have mentioned that. However, from the article, it seems that they believe that COVID just whacks the immune system, in general, so everyone gets to belly up to the bar.
    - timr 1y ago
      Just to be clear: "they", in this case, is a cherry-picked sample of scientists by a journalist.
      - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
        I think that's pretty much always the case, these days. Shouldn't be a problem, finding a cherry-picked sample to refute it.
        timr 1y ago
        Rebutting this kind of stuff turns into a link-sharing competition. For any debated theory I can show you a thousand links saying the opposite of whatever claim is being advanced, but you'll just assume my links are self-selected. Look at the content of the article. Literally every quote in this piece is some scientist speculating. That's completely fine, and what scientists do, but the "journalist" is spinning it into a narrative of "scientists believe X", which is both true (some scientists can be found to support literally any claim), and misleadingly over-confident.

timr 1y ago

Please stop making this comparison. There's a clear reason why chickenpox can re-emerge as shingles later in life - herpesvirus maintains a circular chromosome within the nerve cells. It's a known feature of the virus family, and it's detectable [1]. There's absolutely no reason to believe that SARS-CoV2 has similar capability, and those who cling to this hypothesis are engaging in pseudoscience. Viruses are not so complex that we would trivially overlook a feature that would literally change the phylogenetic classification in a dramatic way. [1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5584196/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5584196/

privatelypublic 1y ago
> Viruses are not so complex that we would trivially overlook a feature that would literally change the phylogenetic classification in a dramatic way. You might think that, but in the past two decades theres been so many "how did we miss that?" in so many fields. I'll let field experts bring specifics up- I only know popularized examples like Roman Concrete. And the ever-easy Mars unit-conversion error.
- timr 1y ago
  You can speculate if you like, but the claim you're advancing is fantastical to anyone who has studied virology, and requires an accordingly fantastic level of supporting evidence.
  - privatelypublic 1y ago
    The only claim I'm making is "never underestimate humanity's ability to hold to an initial assessment/viewpoint/assumption." Which has so many examples it's almost a truism.
pessimizer 1y ago
I assume, with this level of confidence, that we understand everything about Parkinson's now. It is a nerve disease so closely associated with influenza that there was speculation in the 60s that when the last child born during the Spanish Flu epidemic died, it would be completely eliminated as a common disease. Shouldn't we just look for the ring that we learned how to detect herpes in nerves? Because every virus has to be constructed exactly like herpes in order to infect nerve cells, apparently.
- privatelypublic 1y ago
  Might I suggest, instead of taking all the piss- to find an actual flaw in the given argument and highlight it with words?
Animats 1y ago
Right, chickenpox has a very different aftereffect mechanism. I'm just arguing against the popular "when it's over, it's over" position.

PaulKeeble 1y ago

HIV 10 years later turns into AIDs. Immune disruptions are especially scary because without an immune system the constant bombardment the human body is under from viruses, bacteria and fungi overwhelms us quickly. Finding Covid viral fragments in people long after the infection is very concerning, we don't know how its staying in the body or where but it seems likely its persisting.

ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago

Measles, too: https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/09/child-dies-of-horrifying-measles-complication-in-los-angeles/ https://arstechnica.com/health/2025/09/child-dies-of-horrify... Several variants of Malaria can be The Gift That Keeps On Giving: https://www.mmv.org/malaria/symptoms-and-treatments/relapsing-malaria https://www.mmv.org/malaria/symptoms-and-treatments/relapsin...

timr 1y ago
Malaria is not a virus. It's caused by a eukaryotic microorganism.
- ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
  I know. I guess that I should have mentioned that. However, from the article, it seems that they believe that COVID just whacks the immune system, in general, so everyone gets to belly up to the bar.
  - timr 1y ago
    Just to be clear: "they", in this case, is a cherry-picked sample of scientists by a journalist.
    - ChrisMarshallNY 1y ago
      I think that's pretty much always the case, these days. Shouldn't be a problem, finding a cherry-picked sample to refute it.
      - timr 1y ago
        Rebutting this kind of stuff turns into a link-sharing competition. For any debated theory I can show you a thousand links saying the opposite of whatever claim is being advanced, but you'll just assume my links are self-selected. Look at the content of the article. Literally every quote in this piece is some scientist speculating. That's completely fine, and what scientists do, but the "journalist" is spinning it into a narrative of "scientists believe X", which is both true (some scientists can be found to support literally any claim), and misleadingly over-confident.