One of the fiercest duels on planet Earth involves the perpetual struggle between Homo sapiens and viruses. Numerous, omnipresent and unpredictable, viruses have terrorised humans for centuries. Deceptively simple, possessing either a DNA or a RNA but never both, and immeasurably small, escaping light microscopy, a virus virtually has carte blanche to reside in any host it sets its mind on.
An intracellular parasite armed with the arsenal to usurp host machinery, a virus can make the host its home in a sliver of a second. Clueless humans fell in heaps to the march of viruses before an Englishman named Edward Jenner offered the first medicine towards mitigating this mayhem. On realising that cowpox provided immunity against the much more dangerous smallpox, Jenner, in 1796, pioneered the vaccination programme that future scientists and physicians would come to value dearly.
Jenner’s genius, however, could not stop pandemics altogether, which kept coming in waves, leaving behind a trail of countless deaths. Caused possibly by the subtype H2N2, the “Russian flu” or the “Asiatic flu” inflicted nearly a million human deaths in 1889-90. Worse was soon to follow in the form of the H1N1 “Spanish flu”, often dubbed as “the greatest holocaust in medical history”, which killed over 50 million people between 1918 and 1920. Many more devastating flus arrived in droves before the world came to a standstill in 2020 due to Covid-19.
The purpose of this column is not to attempt to delineate Covid’s trajectory all over again. Enough deaths have been caused and enough words have been unleashed in an attempt to understand Covid, a virion which now rests in the wings. Yes, vaccines have rescued us, but not before anywhere between 16 and 28 million people met their end prematurely. But why do I say that the virion rests in the wings? Simply because viruses tend to live far longer than humans. They linger, procrastinate and mutate, waiting for an opportune moment to return.
Ten to 15 per cent of all cancers in humans are caused by viruses
As a concept, long Covid syndrome is still evolving, with scientists still grappling with the dynamics of it. But it is already real enough for us to highlight its red flags Shutterstock
For the most part, viruses soften their strain to soften the human response and, in the process, cause little perceptible damage, cohabiting comfortably with their host. This makes for a nightmare for scientists, for viruses and humans can never be a holy alliance. Let us remind ourselves that 10 to 15 per cent of all cancers in humans are caused by viruses
This brings me to the term long Covid syndrome. As a concept, it is still evolving, with scientists still grappling with the dynamics of it. But it is already real enough for us to highlight its red flags. From a bird’s eye view, long Covid is all about the aftermath of a lingering viral attack. The watchwords are fatigue that refuses to leave, a cough that is disturbingly chronic, and a brain fog that implies a loss of cerebral sharpness that could previously have been taken for granted.
Period chest pain, frequent diarrhoea, anxiety, and more among long Covid symptoms
Urgent medical attention is advised in case multiple symptoms connected to long Covid show up in a patient TT Archives
If we take a more system-specific approach across the body, then for the lungs and and the heart, long Covid usually entails a persistent feeling of being out of breath, periodic chest pain, and a pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations). For the nervous system, long Covid concerns itself with headaches that seem to lack a specific cause, light-headedness, significant disturbances in sleep, feelings of pins-and-needles, changes in smell and/or taste, and anxiety and/or depression. Frequent diarrhoea and stomach pain are how long Covid tends to affect the digestive system. Other symptoms include joint or muscle pain, skin rashes and unnatural changes in menstrual cycles.
The obvious question that begs to be answered is: Who is at risk of suffering from long Covid?
Quite simply, those who are inadequately vaccinated, those carrying multiple comorbidities (diabetes being the main culprit), and those who have experienced more severe Covid-19-related illness in the past, especially those who were hospitalised or needed intensive care.
And what do we do when we carry these red flags? The answer is to seek medical attention. Be it blood tests, imaging studies, or getting another dose of vaccine, we must be proactive.
Covid-19 did not hit us overnight. It took its time. Human complacency meant we paid a hefty price. To deal with long Covid, we need to attack the disease before it attacks us. For the enduring lesson we must learn from history is that we can never trust viruses.
Dr Shuvendu Sen, born and brought up in Kolkata, is a US-based physician currently serving as the vice chair, Research, at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center, New Jersey. An award-winning physician and author, his works include The Fight Against Alzheimer’s (Rupa Publications, 2024), Why Buddha Never Had Alzheimer’s (HCI/ Simon & Schuster, 2017) and A Doctor's Diary (Times Group Books, 2014), among others. Dr Sen can be reached at shuvendusen57@gmail.com
