What is ‘Long COVID’? Can children be affected?

Image of Flu COVID-19 virus cell under the microscope on the blood.Coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak influenza background.Pandemic medical health risk concept with disease cell as a 3D renderer.

           Long covid is used to describe situations when a patient has suffered symptoms that last for more than four weeks and sometimes move to up to 12 weeks. The normal recovery period for covid 19 is expected to be two weeks but some have extended to six weeks. In some cases, the symptoms may come and go but still strike as hard each time. Long covid can affect anyone regardless the age be it the elderly or even children. The symptoms are the same with equal effects. The following are the symptoms associated with long covid some are of the normal covid 19 but others are not. Suffering from fatigue also extreme tiredness, chest pains, shortness of breath, brain fog which is problems with concentration and memory, insomnia, dizziness, joint pain, heart palpitations, earaches, depressions and anxiety, loss of appetite, diarrhea, stomach aches, high temperatures, coughs, headaches, changes in smell and taste, sore throat, and at times  rashes (Mahase, E. 2020).  With this many people are unable to continue with their daily activities.

         There are no exact data to prove how many people are suffering the long covid but it’s expected that 1 out of 10 people may have symptoms that exceed the average times. The most experienced symptom is fatigue. Not all the symptoms are present in everybody but they have complained of fatigue so many times. There is no specific treatment methods put in place for long covid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_COVID

           However, people are advised to get a blood test to ensure they are aware of the extent to which the disease may have gotten in the body. With this, it’s easy to slowly treat a patient avoiding extreme sickness. It’s also safe to ensure that a person is eating healthy to boost immunity levels and ensure there is no space for other diseases to attack. Children should be well taken care of, to ensure they do not fall sick even more (Buonsenso, D at el 2021).

Reference

Mahase, E. (2020). Covid-19: What do we know about “long covid”?. bmj, 370.

Buonsenso, D., Munblit, D., De Rose, C., Sinatti, D., Ricchiuto, A., Carfi, A., & Valentini, P. (2021). Preliminary evidence on long COVID in children. MedRxiv.