Who Will Get Long Covid? Study May Offer Clues

A blood test may someday help determine a person's risk for long Covid, new research suggests.

The study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, found that people who go on to develop long Covid have lower levels of certain antibodies in their blood soon after they are infected with the coronavirus.

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If confirmed through larger studies, the findings could help scientists develop a test to predict who may continue to suffer from symptoms weeks, months and even years following infection.

Inflammation, stress, memory issues, and other symptoms of "long haul" COVID-19 are still impacting Fiona Lowenstein and Chimére Smith. Smith tells LX News she developed occipital neuralgia after contracting the virus in March 2020. "It almost feels like I have a rubber band around my head, actually 20 of them at any given time," Smith said.

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"We want to be able to recognize and identify, as early as possible, who is at risk of developing long Covid," said Dr. Onur Boyman, an author of the new study and a researcher in the department of immunology at University Hospital Zurich.

For more on this story, go to NBC News.

Who Will Get Long Covid? Study May Offer Clues

"We want to be able to recognize and identify, as early as possible, who is at risk of developing long Covid," said Dr. Onur Boyman

Published January 25, 2022

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