https://www.ft.com/content/24865d7d-d18d-4978-9dec-3da56a559f4e
"While Covid-19 rapidly emptied cities and shut industries, long Covid has been
more stealthy.
Yet its impact in the past two years has been huge: a study last month showed
the condition is so widespread that the “healthy life years” lost across the
population surpassed those lost to cancer or heart disease.
Long Covid took 80 healthy life years per 1,000 residents — a preferred way of
measuring quality of life — in the first two years post-infection, compared
with 50 for cancer and 52 for heart disease, according to researchers at
Washington University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs St Louis
healthcare system.
Ziyad Al-Aly, study co-author and epidemiologist at Washington University, says
it shows a “staggeringly high burden” and pointed out that, unlike cancer and
heart disease, there is no treatment for long Covid. “It appears that the
effects of long Covid for many will not only impact such patients and their
quality of life, but potentially will contribute to a decline in life
expectancy and also may impact labour participation, economic productivity, and
societal wellbeing,” he says.
The number of sufferers — estimated conservatively at 65mn worldwide — suggests
it is a public health emergency. As at the start of Covid-19, clinicians are
far from understanding how to treat the disease. But, unlike the beginning of
the pandemic, few are being funded to find new options quickly."
Via Violet Blue’s
Pandemic Roundup: September 21, 2023
https://www.patreon.com/posts/pandemic-roundup-89603560
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
