Columbia University experts explain what we have learned about Long Covid

A very worthwhile article that explains the evolving knowledge of long covid. Among the revelations:

LP: Fortunately, we’re seeing less severe long COVID in the past several months. There are a few reasons contributing to this. First, it’s been shown that vaccination can help prevent long COVID. I also suspect that the new omicron variants have mutated to the point where they’re acting very different than the original virus and the delta variant. The omicron variants are mostly causing upper respiratory infections, so we’re seeing fewer pulmonary complications and also fewer neurocognitive issues and other symptoms, such as increased heart rate, lightheadedness, and chronic fatigue.

How many people develop long COVID after their initial infection?
LP: This is a tricky question to answer. It depends on how long COVID is defined. A lot of research studies use the criteria of having at least one symptom for more than 12 weeks after the acute infection. This definition is very broad and includes a lot of people who only report very mild symptoms such as mild fatigue or chronic nasal congestion. Studies that use a liberal definition report that between 20% and 80% of COVID patients develop long COVID, but those studies probably overestimate how many people have moderate to severe long COVID. Furthermore, many long COVID symptoms are commonly caused by other chronic conditions so it is important to confirm that they are actually due to COVID infection.

In reality, I think the burden of moderate to severe long COVID is much lower, along the lines of 1% to 5%. In our study with Columbia colleagues Michael Yin, Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, and David Ho, we find that at 12 weeks around 25% of COVID patients with lingering symptoms reported fatigue, 25% reported insomnia, and around 20% reported increased heart rate or dizziness, but only 15% reported neurocognitive deficits like difficulty with short-term memory. It is also important to note that the severity of these symptoms ranges from very mild to severely disabling.

For the majority of long COVID patients, the good news is that many have profound recovery by three to six months after their symptoms. Probably less than 10% have symptoms for longer than a year, and an even smaller percentage are still having symptoms that are considered moderate or severe for more than a year and half.

SR: I do think that many people with long COVID get better over time, and most data point to gradual improvement for many. However, the recovery can be slow with bouts of setback—for example, exertion from normal daily living or an unrelated illness can exacerbate preexisting long COVID symptoms. A minority of patients continue to have persistent long COVID symptoms. We need more research to shed insight into why some people recover fully and some don’t and how to tailor specific treatments to each long COVID patient.




https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/what-have-we-learned-about-long-covid

NYTimes: Israel confirms privately it was behind Saturday's bombing of Iran

TEL AVIV — A drone attack on an Iranian military facility that resulted in a large explosion in the center of the city of Isfahan on Saturday was the work of the Mossad, Israel’s premier intelligence agency, according to senior intelligence officials who were familiar with the dialogue between Israel and the United States about the incident.

The facility’s purpose was not clear, and neither was how much damage the strike caused. But Isfahan is a major center of missile production, research and development for Iran, including the assembly of many of its Shahab medium-range missiles, which can reach Israel and beyond.

Weeks ago, American officials publicly identified Iran as the primary supplier of drones to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, and they said they believed Russia was also trying to obtain Iranian missiles to use in the conflict. But U.S. officials said they believed this strike was prompted by Israel’s concerns about its own security, not the potential for missile exports to Russia.

The strike came just as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was beginning a visit to Israel, his first since Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office as prime minister. The director of the Central Intelligence Agency, William J. Burns, visited Israel last week, though it is not clear anything about the operation in Isfahan was discussed.

American officials quickly sent out word on Sunday morning that the United States was not responsible for the attack. One official confirmed that it had been conducted by Israel but did not have details about the target. Sometimes Israel gives the United States advance warning of an attack or informs American officials as an operation is being launched. It is unclear what happened in this case.

Israel Launched Drone Attack on Iranian Facility, Officials Say https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/world/middleeast/iran-drone-strike-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=5FORpjKn863-pkDULg8mZNYEPXSMf9m_AlmHFu40krUU5MD8b-geeJh5ouhpH7yRvyytc7FUOfI6f3qqxbRbQX7vFrBH_Xpz6oWXHflExuOJUOihIhc8E2yAkZkMP4YMl6diLJPrQRdAFPjE_s_LOltLUZx2Kx6Vi4e3403vRi56LpollcMxh0sQTyS8xM9i8oFJ2YAnEo6Tz-b7RkIJBCOJIqwfQcmmclp02jtARdv3yzIoDOoMbP8H_pjTBhxsps218KA01G4j-YsBjN3AigLbq02q0IBfQdgqwRzMpRgH7hjHs4fjMHuww67ABZarbn8I6f2NJ07YUViBeY9XAW4Mf67ZCuQK2n7V

Israeli study finds most long Covid symptoms resolve in a year for mild covid cases.

Published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, the peer-reviewed research looked at nearly two million medical records, and matched up around 300,000 people who had lab-confirmed infections with another 300,000 who didn't test positive for SARS-CoV-2.


The researchers found that various types of health issues after a mild case of COVID lingered for several months, but cleared up within the first year after an infection.

Certain symptoms, including weakness and difficulty breathing, were more likely to persist.

"There are patients who are experiencing long COVID symptoms for a year, and their life changes, and they suffer — we do know that," said Dr. Maytal Bivas-Benita, a senior researcher at KI Research Institute in Kfar Malal, Israel.

"But when we look at this large population and we look at their medical records, what we see is a small number of symptoms that last, and we see that they decrease with time."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/long-covid-study-israel-1.6713462

The study:
https://www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj-2022-072529

https://www.timesofisrael.com/most-long-covid-symptoms-are-gone-in-a-year-for-mild-cases-israeli-study/

Combined Arms Operations. Part 1.

This is what russia did today.

They waited for the weekend morning to destroy an apartment building.


.https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1614267421837205504

Many are buried in the wreckage. Casualties are unknown. If you want you can seek out video where you hear the screams of people buried in the rubble.
All the while the west refuses to send long range missiles and planes to Ukraine.
Many other cities were struck this morning with ballistic missiles in clouding Lviv.