12 ms·
Autopsy Study Finds Replicating SARS-CoV-2 in the Hearts of Long Covid
- internet_user 2mo agoHas this been found in other tissues?
- npunt 2mo agoIirc yes. Viral persistence and viral reservoirs are the terms to search for
- thenerdhead 2mo agostrongest evidence so far in gut and immune cells for living organisms. They did find it in the brain of one patient when doing an unrelated procedure at the NIH. That could be due to many things though. General findings around the CSF/brain have been negative. Autopsy - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05542-y https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05542-y Long covid - https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(24)00171-3/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3... Also this exists in both children and adults.
- nerdsniper 2mo agoI'd be curious to look for any investigation into whether extended paxlovid treatment fixes a significant subset of long COVID.
- thenerdhead 2mo agothey’ve done 15 days all null and the 25 day one was null but has some unique labs they tested but haven’t posted yet. Paxlovid does something to antiviral genes and shows there’s something there though in secondary analysis (not posted but has been presented at conferences) sadly Paxlovid doesn’t actually get rid of the viral pieces remaining and a PROTAC or other therapy might be necessary to degrade the proteins. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-025-02539-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-025-02539-7
- liamrosen 2mo agoYeah, it seems that most people don't have active viral replication which is the only thing that Paxlovid works for (it literally jams up the "scissors" that cut the viral data for replication). It seems to work in a small subset, but that's about it.
- realo 2mo agoThe science is interesting but I must admit I learned a new word today. A deceased person is also a decedent. Adjective vs noun. Cool.
- mchusma 2mo agoAfter seeing studies like this, and how the shingles vaccine reduces dimensia, I have become increasingly convinced that it’s bad to get almost any disease, even transiently. I used to think that it was kind of good to train your immune system (kind of whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger). I no longer believe that. I believe that diseases often cause unknown effects and it’s better to avoid disease entirely, that vaccines are actually more beneficial than current studies show in this regard, and new universal vaccines to prevent the common cold and flu will likely have significant health span improvements over time beyond the acute prevention of symptoms.
- thenerdhead 2mo agohaving posted on this topic for years, your comment is the first I’ve seen come to this rational conclusion. usually people double down on their original perspective
- st-keller 2mo agoI came to the same conclusion and normally i don’t write about it. Beiing one of the few who pays 250€ to get my family vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 every year here in Germany (i have to pay because our „StIKo“ doesn’t recommend the vaccination) kind of makes me hesitant to talk about it.
- thenerdhead 2mo agothats strange as I thought Germany is the one investing over the next decade in these conditions?
- pohuing 2mo agoThe recommendation is to get your basic immunization of 1-3 pricks depending on how many you've already had, or if you've already had covid. Certain at risk individuals, or ones that work with them are recommended to also get a prick every year around autumn ideally. If you're not in that last category the insurance will only cover your initial innoculation.
- rdmirza 2mo agoIt's established that COVID can persist in tissue/blood - particularly in immunocompromised patients - and is associated with long COVID [1]. This abstract only reports a cut-off of >60 days from COVID infection, so it's hard to know how many of these deceased patients are truly outside the acute infection phase. Although this research area is the most promising avenue for long COVID -- wrt biologic rationale -- the major anti-viral trials for long COVID were negative. STOP-PASC trial [2] and PAXLC [3] were both 15-day courses of Paxlovid and showed no benefit across patient reported outcomes. The real question however, is whether anti-virals have benefit in patients with active viral replication. Like only cases of long COVID can be implicated to viral persistence. STOP-PASC did collect stool PCR at baseline, but every tested sample was negative. PAX LC later reported a exploratory biomarker analysis of 82 PAX LC participants did measure circulating SARS-CoV-2 S1 and full-length Spike, and wasn't powered to find a difference. Notably, spike presence doesn't necessarily mean active viral replication [4]. As an aside, mchusma's post is probably right. Viral disease is not being associated with more and more long term diseases. EBV is being linked to MS, cervical cancer to HPV, and so on. [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1473309924001713?casa_token=3WtX0uPOYT4AAAAA:kRZnUe4WTU2n667j3ef7YTR7FApEZwvm6o8avP3WGa5tqxXNqOL6gHMucVjnAIfs5w0JSxsfiQ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S147330992... [2] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/10.1001/jamainternmed.2024.2007 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullar... [3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40188838 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40188838 [4] www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.24.26347001v1.full
- brewcejener 2mo ago[flagged]
- juggert8 2mo ago[flagged]
- Krssst 2mo agoIf people develop long COVID after catching COVID (even before the vaccine existed), but not after taking the vaccine, then the cause is the virus not the vaccine. Those weird comments coming back again and again is just insane. I wonder why does HN attract that kind of people.
- Schmerika 2mo ago[dead]