Long Covid: Many people continue to suffer from symptoms long after a corona infection.
Erlangen researchers have discovered a possible cause for these long-term effects.
Erlangen - Shortness of breath, tiredness and headaches are just a few of the symptoms that people with Long Covid suffer from.
Not much is known about Long Covid, or Post-Covid Syndrome.
Erlangen * researchers have now found that a corona * disease significantly changes the size and stiffness of red and white blood cells - sometimes over months.
Long Covid: Erlangen researchers discover changes in blood cells
A team of scientists from the Max Planck Center for Physics and Medicine at FAU examined the mechanical conditions of red and white blood cells in people infected with corona, recovered and healthy people.
With the help of real-time deformation cytometry, which they developed themselves, the researchers were able to determine changes in the blood cells.
The team around Markéta Kubánková examined more than four million blood cells.
It was found that, for example, the size and deformability of the red blood cells of sick people fluctuated more than those of healthy people.
This indicates damage to these cells and could explain the increased risk of vascular occlusion and embolism of the lungs, according to a report from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg *.
Method could serve as an "early warning system" before a future pandemic
"Lymphocytes (immune cells that count among the white blood cells) were, in turn, significantly softer in corona patients, which can indicate a strong immune reaction." Loss of the sense of taste and smell, it says in the message.
"We suspect that the cell skeleton of the immune cells, which is largely responsible for cell function, has changed," explains Markéta Kubánková.
In their view, real-time deformation cytometry has the potential to be used routinely in the diagnosis of corona - and even to serve as an early warning system of future pandemics caused by as yet unknown viruses.
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List of rubric lists: © Sebastian Gollnow / dpa