Long and Post Covid: Up to 40 percent of corona patients are affected – this is how the terms differ

Created: 09/19/2022, 06:33

By: Juliane Gutmann

Problems with breathing, exhaustion, sleep disorders: Up to 41 percent of corona patients are affected by Long Covid, according to the Robert Koch Institute.

Is Post Covid the same?

Virus variants, Long Covid, Post Covid: The corona pandemic has flushed many terms into our vocabulary.

But many are not self-explanatory.

Or can you tell Long and Post Covid apart?

This knowledge gap can be closed.

The Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care defines the clinical pictures as follows, citing the guideline recommendation of the British National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE):

• Long Covid

  : Health problems that persist beyond the acute phase of a corona infection of four weeks or that appear again.

• Post Covid

  : Complaints that are still present more than twelve weeks after the start of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and cannot be explained otherwise.

Long Covid symptoms such as exhaustion, depressive mood or shortness of breath can therefore still exist four to twelve weeks after the onset of symptoms following acute corona disease.

The term long covid also includes post-covid symptoms that have not subsided twelve weeks after the corona disease, according to the Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care.

Young people can also be affected by Long Covid.

A typical symptom: exhaustion.

(Iconic image) © Bernd Friedel/Imago

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How common is Long Covid?

Studies come to different conclusions

The German Society for Pneumology and Respiratory Medicine (DGP) estimates that up to 15 percent of all corona sufferers struggle with Long Covid and two percent with Post Covid, according to the Federal Ministry of Health.

However, reliable, representative data on the proportion of patients with long-term consequences are not yet available.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) informs that different studies come to very different estimates with regard to Long Covid cases.

Depending on the database, case definition and study methodology, the proportion of long covid in studies with adults without hospitalization varies between 7.5 and 41 percent, according to the RKI.

In adults who had to be treated in hospital for Covid-19, 37.6 percent reported long-term health consequences, it said.

These viruses and bacteria make us sick

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A corona vaccination should not only reduce the risk of serious illnesses, but also lower the long Covid risk.

The Long Covid expert Dr.

Jördis Frommhold, chief physician in the department for respiratory diseases and allergies at the Median Clinic in Heiligendamm, strongly recommends corona vaccination.

"There are now many studies showing that vaccination reduces the likelihood of contracting Long Covid by 70 percent," says the doctor.

She estimates that around ten percent of unvaccinated people who have recovered from Covid-19 will get Long Covid.

According to Frommhold, some studies would show that it is as much as 40 percent.

Those vaccinated would enjoy better Long Covid protection.

According to Frommhold, five percent of those who have recovered

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