BLOOD SCIENCES
Long COVID: could plasma viscosity detect inflammatory proteins?
David Manuel, David Norcliffe and Bernie Benson look at the prevalence of, and literature around, long COVID since the pandemic and consider measuring plasma viscosity as a diagnostic tool.
COVID-19, officially termed Coronavirus disease 2019, can be a severe viral illness.1
The virus responsible for this
disease is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, commonly abbreviated as SARS-CoV-2. Structurally the coronavirus has spikes containing
proteins. The transmission of this virus commenced worldwide in late 2019 and rapidly developed into a global pandemic by the year 2020.
The disease COVID-19 is highly infectious and can cause a diverse variety of problems. It is spread primarily
through infected droplets or saliva and aerosol discharge during coughing and sneezing.2
COVID-19 has been
the causative agent implicated in over several million deaths worldwide during the pandemic. Patients with coronavirus disease
predominantly present with a respiratory tract infection. A proportion of these patients progress to a more severe and systemic disease, characterised by treatment-resistant pyrexia, acute lung injury with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), haematological manifestation, sepsis, followed by multiple organ failure with increased mortality.
What is long COVID? Over five years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, millions continue to experience long-term effects from the SARS-CoV-2 infection. These effects are commonly referred to as long COVID.
Surprisingly, there is currently no universally accepted name; with different professional health organisations defining it differently. The World Health Organization (WHO) has adopted the title ‘Post COVID-19 condition’,3
the
UK Department of Health and Human Services use ‘Long COVID’,4
National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) prefers ‘Ongoing Symptomatic COVID-19’ and ‘Post COVID-19 Syndrome’.
It is characterised by the continuation or development of symptoms three months after the initial infection with SARS-CoV-2. Over 200 distinct symptoms have been reported, which will have a significant impact on everyday life functions.5
Following recovery from the initial viral infection, it has been found that around 7% of cases continue to have some of the same structural spike proteins (spike glycoprotein) found in active COVID-19 patients.
54
Most individuals infected with COVID-19 experience an improvement in
SEPTEMBER 2025
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