Tag: long covid case series

Can Baseline IL-6 Levels Predict Long COVID in Subjects Hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 Disease?

Abstract:

The immune response to infection plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19, but several patients develop a wide range of persistent symptoms, which is becoming a major global health and economic burden. However, reliable indicators are not yet available to predict the persistence of symptoms typical of the so-called long COVID. Our study aims to explore an eventual role of IL-6 levels as a marker of long COVID. Altogether, 184 patients admitted to the COVID Medicine Unit of the University Hospital in Palermo, Italy, from the 1st of September 2020, were analyzed.

Patients were divided into two groups according to the IL-6 serum levels (normal or elevated), considering the serum IL-6 levels measured during the first four days of hospitalization. In our study, higher serum IL-6 levels were associated with a doubled higher risk of long COVID (OR = 2.05; 95% CI: 1.04-4.50) and, in particular, they were associated with a higher incidence of mobility decline (OR = 2.55; 95% CI: 1.08-9.40) and PTSD (OR = 2.38; 95% CI: 1.06-8.61). The analysis of our case series confirmed the prominent role of IL-6 levels in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, as predictors not only of COVID-19 disease severity and unfavorable outcomes, but also long COVID development trends.

Source: Giannitrapani L, Mirarchi L, Amodeo S, Licata A, Soresi M, Cavaleri F, Casalicchio S, Ciulla G, Ciuppa ME, Cervello M, Barbagallo M, Veronese N, The Comepa Group. Can Baseline IL-6 Levels Predict Long COVID in Subjects Hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 Disease? Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jan 15;24(2):1731. doi: 10.3390/ijms24021731. PMID: 36675242. https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/2/1731 (Full text)

Lactoferrin as Possible Treatment for Chronic Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Children with Long COVID: Case Series and Literature Review

Abstract:

Long COVID is an emergent, heterogeneous, and multisystemic condition with an increasingly important impact also on the pediatric population. Among long COVID symptoms, patients can experience chronic gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and dysphagia.
Although there is no standard, agreed, and optimal diagnostic approach or treatment of long COVID in children, recently compounds containing multiple micronutrients and lactoferrin have been proposed as a possible treatment strategy, due to the long-standing experience gained from other gastrointestinal conditions. In particular, lactoferrin is a pleiotropic glycoprotein with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, and immunomodulatory activities. Moreover, it seems to have several physiological functions to protect the gastrointestinal tract.
In this regard, we described the resolution of symptoms after the start of therapy with high doses of oral lactoferrin in two patients referred to our post-COVID pediatric unit due to chronic gastrointestinal symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Source: Morello R, De Rose C, Cardinali S, Valentini P, Buonsenso D. Lactoferrin as Possible Treatment for Chronic Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Children with Long COVID: Case Series and Literature Review. Children. 2022; 9(10):1446. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9101446 (Full text)

A case series of cutaneous phosphorylated α-synuclein in Long-COVID POTS

Dear Editors,

As case numbers of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) increase, chronic symptoms, including those of autonomic dysfunction, are being reported with increasing frequency [], leading to the diagnosis of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), or Long-COVID. In addition, small fiber neuropathy (SFN) has been reported after viral infections, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) []. These associations have prompted our group to systematically perform autonomic testing and skin biopsies in a cohort of patients who have developed postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) as a consequence of PASC (Long-COVID POTS). As part of this evaluation, all skin biopsy samples undergo immunohistochemical analysis of both intraepidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD) and phosphorylated α-synuclein (p-syn) [], the pathological form of α-synuclein associated with the neurodegenerative diseases of Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and pure autonomic failure (PAF), as well as isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD), a prodromal manifestation of synucleinopathy for the majority of patients.

Read the rest of this article HERE. 

Source: Miglis MG, Seliger J, Shaik R, Gibbons CH. A case series of cutaneous phosphorylated α-synuclein in Long-COVID POTS. Clin Auton Res. 2022 May 16:1–4. doi: 10.1007/s10286-022-00867-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35570247; PMCID: PMC9108014. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9108014/ (Full text)