<
https://theconversation.com/long-covids-hidden-toll-the-south-africans-still-battling-fatigue-anxiety-and-memory-loss-268117>
"“I feel better, but my mind isn’t the same.” Four years after the height of
the COVID-19 pandemic, such comments are still heard regularly in many medical
practices in South Africa. What began as a respiratory virus seems to have left
a lingering mark on some people who were infected.
In South Africa, more than 4 million cases of COVID-19 were confirmed. For some
people, the physical recovery was just the beginning. Ongoing fatigue, poor
concentration, and mood changes due to lasting viral effects have affected
work, relationships and quality of life.
Our team of specialist psychiatrists, clinical immunologists and laboratory
scientists at the University of Cape Town set out to understand why some people
continue to experience fatigue, anxiety and memory loss long after recovering
from COVID-19. We wanted to know whether the body’s early immune and
cardiovascular responses to the virus – that is, how the body fought the virus
– could help predict who might go on to develop these persistent symptoms. They
are often referred to as long COVID, or a major component of long COVID.
Most studies on long COVID have come from high-income countries in Europe or
North America. African populations have been underrepresented, despite clear
differences in age, health status and environmental exposures that may
influence both the course of infection and recovery. We felt that this was an
important gap: the neuropsychiatric effects of long COVID in an African
context. Also, understanding whether the same biological risk factors apply is
crucial for designing appropriate health services and ensuring equitable
research representation. Local data matters as it demands policy makers take
the problem seriously.
Our recent research revealed an alarming picture. More than half of the
participants in our study group of people in Cape Town who had been infected
with the coronavirus (and mostly had been in hospital with COVID-19) had at
least one neuropsychiatric symptom more than six months after infection. The
symptoms included fatigue, concentration or memory difficulties. Many still had
these symptoms up to two years later."
Via Violet Blue’s
Threat Model - Covid: November 27, 2025
https://www.patreon.com/posts/covid-november-144496970
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
