If Covid-19 patients still do not feel better after four weeks, doctors speak of "long Covid".
Researchers have now found out who is at risk.
Ideally, the human body fights pathogens immediately.
The immune system is activated and defense mechanisms are set in motion that render viruses and bacteria harmless.
But in many people the body's defenses don't work as they should.
As a result, an illness continues, weeks pass before an improvement occurs.
Even in the case of Covid-19, some patients report a long duration of illness
.
There is even a technical term for long-lasting complaints caused by Covid-19: Experts then speak of "Long-Covid".
A study by King's College London shows how often the symptoms * persist over the long term.
The study analyzed data from 4,000 coronavirus patients in Sweden, the UK and the US.
About 20 percent said that they still didn't feel better after four weeks - according to researchers, this limit marks a long-term illness.
190 patients complained of symptoms eight weeks after the onset of the disease and in 100 patients the symptoms persisted even twelve weeks after the onset of the disease
.
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These factors suggest that Covid-19 will not subside for a long time
The research team from King's College London determined that there is primarily one indication of a long corona course.
The patients who developed more than five symptoms in the first week of the outbreak developed a long-term illness far more frequently than Covid-19 patients who suffered from fewer symptoms.
This was true for all age groups and was observed regardless of gender, as the study shows.
According to the researchers, the following five symptoms in particular suggest that patients are slow to recover from Covid-19:
fatigue
a headache
Difficulty breathing
hoarse voice
Pain in muscles or limbs
However, the patient's age is the strongest indicator of long-term illness, as the Business Insider quotes the study by King's College.
Around 22 percent of the participants aged 70 and over reported long-term symptoms.
And even among the overweight patients, a relatively large number only recovered very slowly from Covid-19.
(jg) * Merkur.de is part of the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editorial network
.
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