Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Post-COVID Symptoms Will Have Profound Impact on Global Health

Lisa Schlein

   The World Health Organization says debilitating post-COVID-19 symptoms
   in patients will have an impact on global health because of the
   magnitude of the pandemic.
   The World Health Organization is conducting research into why many
   people who are infected with COVID-19 continue to suffer from various
   disabling conditions for up to six months after they have had the
   illness.

   The team lead of WHO's Health Care Readiness Division, Janet Diaz, says
   some people with post-COVID-19 conditions, also known as "long COVID"
   have not been able to go back to work. She says their incapacitating
   symptoms prolong their recovery period.

   "Some of the more common symptoms of the post-COVID-19 condition can be
   fatigue, exertional malaise, and cognitive dysfunction. Sometimes you
   may be hearing patients describing that as 'brain fog.' These are
   real," she said.

   Other complications include shortness of breath, cough, and mental
   health and neurological complications. Diaz says it is not clear which
   patients are most at risk of long COVID. She says they range from
   patients who have been hospitalized and required intensive care
   treatment to those with mild illnesses who were treated in ambulatory
   outpatient settings.

   She says researchers do not know why this is happening and are working
   hard to get the answers to the many questions surrounding this disease,
   caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

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