HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 23 (ACN) An article published today in the Infomed website explains the symptoms and treatment options for postcovid disorder or “persistent COVID”, which some people who have recovered from the disease suffer from.
In the article, Janet Diaz, Chief of Medical Care at the World Health Organization (WHO), comments that some of the most frequent symptoms are shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction – what people call mental fog – and tiredness.
These are the most frequent, she said, however, patients have come to describe more than 200 symptoms including chest pain, slurred speech, anxiety or depression, muscle aches, fever, loss of smell, loss of taste.
The duration of the disorder has not yet been very well defined; it can last up to three months, although some have said six or even nine.
The specialist stresses that it is still necessary to do more studies to follow up patients who have developed a persistent postcovid disorder or persistent COVID and to see when these symptoms disappear.
She adds that any patient or person who develops this condition should seek treatment, which should be multidisciplinary in nature, meaning that it may include their primary care physician, as well as corresponding professionals specializing in rehabilitation, social workers, psychosocial care workers and mental health professionals.
“Regarding a specific treatment, we don’t have one yet. This is because we do not yet understand what the cause is. Therefore, the more we know the true causes or mechanisms of the development of the disease, the more hope we have for a specific treatment”, the expert concluded.