Long COVID the Answers – Details, episodes & analysis

Professor James Jackson PsyD is a licensed neuropsychologist and internationally renowned expert on Long Covid and its effects on cognitive and mental health functioning. He is a research professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at Vanderbilt, University School of Medicine Consortium in Nashville, Tennessee in the USA. He is interviewed by Dr Funmi Okunola about the nature and rehabilitation of Brain Fog in Long COVID.

He is also author of “Clearing the Fog from Surviving to Thriving with Long COVID – A Practical Guide”.

REFERENCES

1. “Clearing the Fog from Surviving to Thriving with Long COVID – A Practical Guide”.

2. The Long COVID Handbook by Gez Medinger & Professor Danny Altmann

3. MoCa Test

4. Mini Mental State Exam

THIS PODCAST WAS RECORDED ON THE 17th JANUARY 2024

Professor David Cutler, the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University in the U.S.A., research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the National Academy of Medicine in the USA talks about the economic cost of Long COVID.

REFERENCES

1 Otto Eckstein

2 Cutler DM, Summers LH. The COVID-19 pandemic and the $16 trillion virus. Jama. 2020

Oct 20;324(15):1495-6.

3 Cutler DM. The economic cost of long COVID: an update. Publish Online July. 2022.

Dr Richard J. Baron MD - President and CEO of the American Board of Internal

Medicine and the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation, talks to Dr Funmi

Okunola about how Primary Care needs to adapt to provide medical services for

Long COVID and other forms of chronic disease.

1. The Patient Centered Medical Home, History, Seven Core Features, Evidence and

Transformational Change – Published by the Robert Graham Center, 2007

2. Homer CJ, Baron RJ. How to scale up primary care transformation: what we know and what we need to know?. Journal of general internal medicine. 2010 Jun;25:625-9.

3. The Aspen Policy Strategy Institute

Dr Funmi Okunola MD interviews Professor Michelle Harkins MD – Professor of Medicine at

the School of Medicine at the University of New Mexico in the USA about how to diagnose Long COVID in Primary Care.  Professor Harkins runs a Post COVID clinic and Project Echo telehealth program that provides real time education and case discussions for community health practitioners for the management of Long COVID in the community.

1. Pinto MD, Lambert N, Downs CA, Abrahim H, Hughes TD, Rahmani AM, Burton CW,

Chakraborty R. Antihistamines for postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The Journal for Nurse Practitioners. 2022 Mar 1;18(3):335-8.

2. Brennan CM, Nadella S, Zhao X, Dima RJ, Jordan-Martin N, Demestichas BR,

Kleeman SO, Ferrer M, von Gablenz EC, Mourikis N, Rubin ME. Oral

famotidine versus placebo in non-hospitalised patients with COVID-19: a

randomised, double-blind, data-intense, phase 2 clinical trial. Gut.

2022 May 1;71(5):879-88.

3. Tosato M, Calvani R, Picca A, Ciciarello F, Galluzzo V, Coelho-Júnior

HJ, Di Giorgio A, Di Mario C, Gervasoni J, Gremese E, Leone PM. Effects

of l-arginine plus vitamin C supplementation on physical performance,

endothelial function, and persistent fatigue in adults with long COVID: a

single-blind randomized controlled trial. Nutrients. 2022 Nov

23;14(23):4984.

 4. O'Kelly B, Vidal L, McHugh T, Woo J, Avramovic G, Lambert JS. Safety and efficacy of

low dose naltrexone in a long covid cohort; an interventional pre-post study.

Brain, Behavior, & Immunity-Health. 2022 Oct 1;24:100485.

Professor Todd Davenport is the Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Physical Therapy in the School of Health Sciences at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, USA is interviewed by Dr Funmi Okunola about Post Exertional Malaise in Long COVID and ME/CFS.

REFERENCES

1.    Davenport TE,Stevens SR, Stevens J, Snell CR, VanNess JM. Lessons from myalgic

encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome for Long COVID: Postexertional

symptom exacerbation is an abnormal response to exercise/activity. J Orthop

Sports Phys Ther. 2022.

2.    Long COVID Physio’s Pacing Video

3.    Carruthers et al International Consensus Criteria for ME, which contains the criteria for PENE

4.    Walitt B, Singh K, LaMunion SR, Hallett M, Jacobson S, Chen K, Enose-Akahata Y, Apps

R, Barb JJ, Bedard P, Brychta RJ. Deep phenotyping of post-infectious myalgic

encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. Nature Communications. 2024 Feb

21;15(1):907.

5.    Appelman B, Charlton BT, Goulding RP, Kerkhoff TJ, Breedveld EA, Noort W, Offringa C,

Bloemers FW, van Weeghel M, Schomakers BV, Coelho P. Muscle abnormalities

worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID. Nature communications. 2024

Jan 4;15(1):1-5

6.    PEM time course fact sheet

7.    Energy saving tips fact sheet

8.    Heart rate monitor fact sheet

9.    Why do a two-day CPET? Informational sheet

10. 

Highly respected investigative science journalist, filmmaker, Long COVID advocate and Long Hauler Gez Medinger talks about his personal Long COVID story in this interview with Dr Funmi Okunola.

REFERENCES

1 The Long COVID Handbook by Gez Medinger & Professor Danny Altmann

2. Patcai J. Is ‘Long Covid’similar to ‘Long SARS’?. Oxford Open Immunology. 2022 Jan

1;3(1):iqac002.

3. Gez Medinger You Tube Channel

4. The Shawshank Redemption

5. PACE trial & ME/CFS & Shepherd CB. PACE trial claims for recovery in myalgic

encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome–true or false? It’s time for

an independent review of the methodology and results. Journal of Health

Psychology. 2017 Aug;22(9):1187-91.

This is the second of a two-part series of episodes about Paediatric Long Haulers. Dr Danilo Buonsenso is a is a Physician-Scientist and a specialist in Infectious Diseases in children. He talks with Dr Funmi Okunola MD about how to diagnose and manage children with Long COVID.

Dr. Buonsenso currently works at the Department of Women, Child and Public Health at the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, Italy.

Research Articles and Links:

1. Bygdell M, Kindblom JM, Martikainen J, Li H, Nyberg F. Incidence and characteristics in children with post–COVID-19 condition in Sweden. JAMA Network Open. 2023 Jul3;6(7):e2324246-.

2.Buonsenso & the Kids

3.Long COVID Kids

4.IP4C - Brackel CL, Noij LC, Vijverberg SJ, Legghe CL, Maitland-van der Zee AH, Van Goudoever JB, Buonsenso D, Munblit D, Sigfrid L, McFarland S, Anmyr L. International Care programs for Pediatric Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID) and the way forward. Pediatric research. 2024 Jan 29:1-6.

In this episode Dr Danilo Buonsenso explains the underlying mechanisms of Long COVID in children.

Dr Danilo Buonsenso MD Phd is a Paediatric Infectious Disease Specialist and Physician Scientist who currently works at the Department of Woman, Child and Public Health at the Gemelli University Hospital in Rome.  He has a PhD in Public Health and Biomolecular Sciences and is currently doing his MSc in Infectious Disease at Oxford University.

 References

1.    The WHO definition of Post-COVID condition in children.

2.    Bygdell M, Kindblom JM, Martikainen J, Li H, Nyberg F. Incidence and characteristics in children with post–COVID-19 condition in Sweden. JAMA Network Open. 2023 Jul 3;6(7):e2324246-.

3.     Thors V, Bjornsdottir KL, Love TJ, Haraldsson A. Long COVID in Icelandic Children: A Matched Cohort Study of Nonspecific Symptoms Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection. The Pediatric InfectiousDisease Journal. 2024 Mar 1;43(3):226-33. (behind a paywall)

4.     Delogu AB, Aliberti C, Birritella L, De Rosa G, De Rose C, Morello R, Cambise N, Marino AG, Belmusto A, Tinti L, Di Renzo A. Autonomic cardiac function in children and adolescents with long COVID: a case-controlled study. European Journal of Pediatrics. 2

5.     BaldiF, De Rose C, Mariani F, Morello R, Raffaelli F, Valentini P, Buonsenso D.

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in Children With Long COVID: A Case-controlled

Study. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 2024 May 7:10-97.

6.     Cocciolillo F, Chieffo DP, Giordano A, Arcangeli V, Lazzareschi I, Morello R, Zampino G,

Valentini P, Buonsenso D. Case report: Post-COVID new-onset neurocognitive decline with bilateral mesial-temporal hypometabolism in two previously healthy sisters. Fr

7.    Cocciolillo F, Di Giuda D, Morello R, De Rose C, Valentini P, Buonsenso D. Orbito-frontal cortex

hypometabolism in children with post-COVID condition (long COVID): a preliminary experience. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 2022 Aug 1;41(8):663-5.

Professor Danny Altmann is a Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London in the UK. In this interview, Professor Altmann will describe the functional changes in the body that occur with Long COVID.

1. Altmann DM, Whettlock EM, Liu S, Arachchillage DJ, Boyton RJ. The

immunology of long COVID. Nature Reviews Immunology. 2023

Oct;23(10):618-34.

2.Elneima O, McAuley HJ, Leavy OC, Chalmers JD, Horsley A, Ho LP, Marks M,

Poinasamy K, Raman B, Shikotra A, Singapuri A. Cohort profile:

post-hospitalisation COVID-19 (PHOSP-COVID) study. International Journal

of Epidemiology. 2024 Feb 1;53(1):dyad165.

3.Douaud G, Lee S, Alfaro-Almagro F, Arthofer C, Wang C, McCarthy P, Lange

F, Andersson JL, Griffanti L, Duff E, Jbabdi S. SARS-CoV-2 is

associated with changes in brain structure in UK Biobank. Nature. 2022

Apr 28;604(7907):697-707.

4.Stein SR, Ramelli SC, Grazioli A, Chung JY, Singh M, Yinda CK, Winkler

CW, Sun J, Dickey JM, Ylaya K, Ko SH. SARS-CoV-2 infection and

persistence in the human body and brain at autopsy. Nature. 2022 Dec

22;612(7941):758-63.

5.Hany M, Sheta E, Talha A, Anwar M, Selima M, Gaballah M, Zidan A,

Ibrahim M, Agayby AS, Abouelnasr AA, Samir M. Incidence of persistent

SARS-CoV-2 gut infection in patients with a history of COVID-19:

Insights from endoscopic examination. Endoscopy International Open. 2024

Jan;12(01):E11-22.

6.

Professor Danny Altmann is a professor of Immunology at Imperial College London in the UK. In this interview, Professor Altmann defines Long COVID.

Research Articles:

1. Altmann DM, Whettlock EM, Liu S, Arachchillage DJ, Boyton RJ. The

immunology of long COVID. Nature Reviews Immunology. 2023

Oct;23(10):618-34.

2. Elneima O, McAuley HJ, Leavy OC, Chalmers JD, Horsley A, Ho LP, Marks M,

Poinasamy K, Raman B, Shikotra A, Singapuri A. Cohort profile:

post-hospitalisation COVID-19 (PHOSP-COVID) study. International Journal

of Epidemiology. 2024 Feb 1;53(1):dyad165.

3. Scheppke KA, Pepe PE, Jui J, Crowe RP, Scheppke EK, Klimas NG, Marty AM.

Remission of severe forms of long COVID following monoclonal antibody

(MCA) infusions: A report of signal index cases and call for targeted

research. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2024 Jan

1;75:122-7.