Long-haul COVID comes into focus thanks to St. Louis doctor's research
Long-haul COVID-19 has proven one of the most troubling mysteries in a virus that’s caused no shortage of bafflement. Why do some people hospitalized with the virus develop symptoms that linger for months after infection? And, perhaps more bewilderingly, why do some patients who recover from mild COVID cases also end up saddled with lingering difficulties, including fatigue, shortness of breath and difficulty concentrating?
Dr. Leonard Weinstock, a gastroenterologist at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, believes the answer lies in the body’s mast cells. Those cells are activated in response to allergens or toxins. But for some patients, they seem to run amok. Even when there’s seemingly nothing to aggravate them, they go into attack mode, setting off symptoms like hives, swelling and difficulty breathing.
For Weinstock, who’s become an expert in what’s known as mast cell activation syndrome, long COVID had a familiar ring — one now confirmed by research. In a recent study published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Weinstock and his colleagues found patients suffering from long COVID had “symptoms almost identical and similar in severity to those of mast cell activation patients.”
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2022-01-27/long-haul-covid-comes-into-focus-thanks-to-st-louis-doctors-research