If the Covid-19 pandemic is a distant and bad memory for many French people, some have never stopped facing this virus on a daily basis. To date, in France, more than 2 million people suffer from long Covid, that is, symptoms that persist “more than 4 weeks after the presumed date of contagion and that cannot be explained by another illness”, the insurance explains. doctor. website.
The symptoms of long Covid are almost as numerous as there are patients, mainly women: physical or intellectual fatigue that can “cause a significant reduction in professional, social and personal activities”, difficulty breathing, cough, sleep disorders, memory loss, chest pains, headaches or even muscle, digestive, eye problems…
So many pathologies that can vary depending on the day and that make the diagnosis of long Covid very difficult, which remains a great mystery. But researchers, both American and French, are raising hopes: in the future, a simple blood test could help bring a certain number of patients out of the fog, he says. The Parisian.
blood markers
Scientists from Yale University, in the United States, pointed out in a study published on September 25 in the journal Nature, that blood biomarkers have been identified in people with long Covid. In this way, these blood substances could be used to distinguish patients who suffer from the disease.
“This study confirms the presence of antibodies directed against the proteins of the virus, which normally have a relatively short life. Their presence after more than six months of infection suggests that the Covid antigens are still present,” explains Jérôme Estaquier, director of research by Inserm, contacted by BFMTV.com, who made promising discoveries on this topic last March in collaboration with the University of Minho in Braga, Portugal.
He then observed that 80% of people affected by long Covid had the same blood markers, while they were rare in other patients.
And he adds: “In addition to these antibodies, we have tested other markers, as has been done with other infectious diseases such as AIDS. The natural responses of the mucosa are also altered, as are certain immune cells…”.
Two recent studies also detected that certain patients’ organs were damaged and certain neurons altered.
“The question now is whether a marker is associated with a specific pathology or whether a marker is present independently of the pathology observed in people with persistent symptoms such as fatigue, cognitive disorders, breathing difficulties,” says Dr. Estaquier, also a professor at the Laval University in Quebec.
However, the invitation to caution is pertinent. Brigitte Ranque, professor of Internal Medicine at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital of the Public Assistance of Hospitals in Paris, contacted by BFMTV.com, maintains that “the biological differences found between patients with or without long Covid are insignificant or minimal… and not discriminating enough. be valid at the level of an individual.”
It also points out that “the (relative) anomalies found differ according to the articles and are not confirmed from one team of researchers to another”, which prevents generalization.
“A serological diagnostic test”
Jérôme Estaquier will carry out in-depth research on this topic, “with other cohorts, blindly, to refine the concept”, through, schematically… a blood test.
“The goal tomorrow is to be able to confirm that we can observe the forms of long Covid through a serological diagnostic test,” he declares.
“And to be able to determine to what extent these markers could or could not be associated with different forms of pathologies.”
The principal investigator of the American study, David Putrino, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York, says: “This work represents a decisive step in the development of valid and reliable blood testing protocols for long Covid.” . , how it is transmitted The new Indian express.
In the future, this blood test would not be sufficient as it is. Without a doubt, it should be complemented by other clinical examinations such as x-rays, scans, MRIs. “As happens with any other pathology,” emphasizes the Inserm researcher.
For Brigitte Ranque, detecting long-term Covid through a simple blood test would not be possible: “the diagnosis is purely clinical.”
Source: BFM TV
