my daughter developed POTS after COVID
I had to look that up. That’s a bummer!
To summarize:
Most studies conflate long and medium covid.
Medium-term problems, in the month or 3 after covid, are a lot more common than long-lasting symptoms. A lot of those medium-term problems are serious. They include life-threatening increases in the risk of stroke and heart attacks, crippling fatigue, crippling pain, and crippling brain fog. They also include loss of sense of smell, weakness, and muscle aches.
Medium covid is really common. Maybe 20% of people who catch covid have problems that don’t resolve quickly.
There are also people who are crippled for life, or at least, for a really long time, but that seems to be a much rarer problem. And that’s consistent with what we know about other viruses that cause chronic fatigue syndrome, etc.
From the article:
Results
Electron microscopy and immunohistochemical staining showed SARS CoV-2 virus in the penile corpus cavernosum of patients 1 month after COVID-19 recovery. Immunohistochemical staining intensity correlated with the severity of previous infection. Transmission electron microscopy revealed intracellular virtual particles of about 80 nm with a typical morphology of prominent spikes and electron-dense dots of nucleocapsid in addition to vesicles filled with virus-like particles. Cells showed increased membrane trafficking. The 1 month after COVID-19 group showed an increased number of fibroblasts. The 7 months after COVID-19 group had similar morphology and immunoreactivity as control group.
…
Conclusion
This study is important because it did not detect any virus residue in the tissue samples at the seventh month. In addition, we can say that the penile surgeries should be postponed more than 1 month after the COVID infection according to this study. But, there is a need for new studies with large series and high levels of evidence that can show how long the virus remains in the corpus cavernosum. Patients should be followed in this respect.
Article
Summary
Researchers have found for the first time that COVID infection has crossed the placenta and caused brain damage in two newborns, according to a study published online today in Pediatrics.
One of the infants died at 13 months and the other remained in hospice care at time of manuscript submission.
Lead author Merline Benny, MD, with the division of neonatology, department of pediatrics at University of Miami, and colleagues briefed reporters today ahead of the release.
“This is a first,” said senior author Shahnaz Duara, MD, medical director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Holtz Children’s Hospital, Miami, explaining it is the first study to confirm cross-placental SARS-CoV-2 transmission leading to brain injury in a newborn.
Both infants negative for the virus at birth
The two infants were admitted in the early days of the pandemic in the Delta wave to the neonatal ICU at Holtz Children’s Hospital at University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center.
Both infants tested negative for the virus at birth, but had significantly elevated SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in their blood, indicating that either antibodies crossed the placenta, or the virus crossed and the immune response was the baby’s.
Dr. Benny explained that the researchers have seen, to this point, more than 700 mother/infant pairs in whom the mother tested positive for COVID in Jackson hospital.
Most who tested positive for COVID were asymptomatic and most of the mothers and infants left the hospital without complications.
“However, (these) two babies had a very unusual clinical picture,” Dr. Benny said.
Those infants were born to mothers who became COVID positive in the second trimester and delivered a few weeks later.
Seizures started on day 1 of life
The babies began to seize from the first day of life. They had profound low tone (hypotonia) in their clinical exam, Dr. Benny explained.
“We had absolutely no good explanation for the early seizures and the degree of brain injury we saw,” Dr. Duara said.
Dr. Benny said that as their bodies grew, they had very small head circumference. Unlike some babies born with the Zika virus, these babies were not microcephalic at birth. Brain imaging on the two babies indicated significant brain atrophy, and neurodevelopment exams showed significant delay.
Discussions began with the center’s multidisciplinary team including neurologists, pathologists, neuroradiologists, and obstetricians who cared for both the mothers and the babies.
The experts examined the placentas and found some characteristic COVID changes and presence of the COVID virus. This was accompanied by increased markers for inflammation and a severe reduction in a hormone critical for placental health and brain development.
Examining the infant’s autopsy findings further raised suspicions of maternal transmission, something that had not been documented before.
Coauthor Ali G. Saad, MD, pediatric and perinatal pathology director at Miami, said, “I have seen literally thousands of brains in autopsies over the last 14 years, and this was the most dramatic case of leukoencephalopathy or loss of white matter in a patient with no significant reason. That’s what triggered the investigation.”
Mothers had very different presentations
Coauthor Michael J. Paidas, MD, with the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at Miami, pointed out that the circumstances of the two mothers, who were in their 20s, were very different.
One mother delivered at 32 weeks and had a very severe COVID presentation and spent a month in the intensive care unit. The team decided to deliver the child to save the mother, Dr. Paidas said.
In contrast, the other mother had asymptomatic COVID infection in the second trimester and delivered at full term.
He said one of the early suspicions in the babies’ presentations was hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. “But it wasn’t lack of blood flow to the placenta that caused this,” he said. “As best we can tell, it was the viral infection.”
Instances are rare
The researchers emphasized that these instances are rare and have not been seen before or since the period of this study to their knowledge.
Dr. Duara said, “This is something we want to alert the medical community to more than the general public. We do not want the lay public to be panicked. We’re trying to understand what made these two pregnancies different, so we can direct research towards protecting vulnerable babies.”
Previous data have indicated a relatively benign status in infants who test negative for the COVID virus after birth. Dr. Benny added that COVID vaccination has been found safe in pregnancy and both vaccination and breastfeeding can help passage of antibodies to the infant and help protect the baby. Because these cases happened in the early days of the pandemic, no vaccines were available.
Dr. Paidas received funding from BioIncept to study hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy with Preimplantation Factor, is a scientific advisory board member, and has stock options. Dr. Paidas and coauthor Dr. Jayakumar are coinventors of SPIKENET, University of Miami, patent pending 2023. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
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Talked to somebody for the first time who I knew to have serious COVID-caused complications.
My goddaughter has autodysnomia due to COVID, which is a wide disease but in her case can cause heart palpitations, fainting, blood pressure issues, especially while under stress. She had to drop out for a semester because it was getting so bad.
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I’m wondering if I have some minor lasting symptoms after COVID case number 2 in December. I occasionally notice being short of breath now when I wouldn’t have been last year. In particular I feel slightly short of breath going from the basement to the top floor (2 flights) when I never have before
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Sounds like something you might want to run by your doctor sooner rather than later, make sure it’s not a developing heart issue.
Did you completely recover your breath in the interim?
Perhaps you are simply more aware of your breath since having the recent Covid. I assume Covid restricted any workouts as may have the winter months.
But yeah, run it by your PCP. Or have a work up done by a cardiologist if you have not had this done in a while (or ever).
I haven’t been poked/prodded by a cardiologist lately, but I did get checked out twice in the last 5 years. Have a minor condition that was suspected to be major by 2 docs. Had a cardiology referral twice in 3 years, and both of them said I was fine.
I’m curious if Covid increases liver enzymes. Mine have been slightly elevated for over a year, possibly longer, and my PCP may send me for an ultrasound and additional labs. But when I say slightly, I do mean slightly.
Hmmm, I have results since 2019. It was actually normal 4 mos after I had Covid but mostly in this slightly high range since 2022. And I had a slightly high in 2019. So doesn’t seem to be Covid related but also fairly level.
It can. Basically, it can amplify any existing liver issues that you may have had. The more severe, the larger the possible impact
Hoping that nothing serious is wrong but hope you get thoroughly checked out.
I found my fitness level slipped a bit after getting COVID but my level of physical activity also reduced due to my gym being closed. It took me a while to regain my former level of fitness.
The other thing is that I now monitor my health more closely than before so now notice things more than previously? Maybe COVID has created a higher sense of awareness of our health for some of us?
I am not saying the preceding two things are the cause of your shortness of breath but they applied in my case.
There is a genetic heart valve issue that runs in my family, but confirmed i avoided it a few years ago with a heart ultrasound. It doesn’t usually cause issues until age 60-70, but happy i don’t have to get that eventually replaced.
Extended quote
Schools everywhere are scrambling to improve attendance, but the new calculus among families is complex and multifaceted.
At South Anchorage High School in Anchorage, where students are largely white and middle-to-upper income, some families now go on ski trips during the school year, or take advantage of off-peak travel deals to vacation for two weeks in Hawaii, said Sara Miller, a counselor at the school.
For a smaller number of students at the school who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, the reasons are different, and more intractable. They often have to stay home to care for younger siblings, Ms. Miller said. On days they miss the bus, their parents are busy working or do not have a car to take them to school.
And because teachers are still expected to post class work online, often nothing more than a skeleton version of an assignment, families incorrectly think students are keeping up, Ms. Miller said.
Across the country, students are staying home when sick, not only with Covid-19, but also with more routine colds and viruses.
And more students are struggling with their mental health, one reason for increased absenteeism in Mason, Ohio, an affluent suburb of Cincinnati, said Tracey Carson, a district spokeswoman. Because many parents can work remotely, their children can also stay home.
For Ashley Cooper, 31, of San Marcos, Texas, the pandemic fractured her trust in an education system that she said left her daughter to learn online, with little support, and then expected her to perform on grade level upon her return. Her daughter, who fell behind in math, has struggled with anxiety ever since, she said.
“There have been days where she’s been absolutely in tears — ‘Can’t do it. Mom, I don’t want to go,’” said Ms. Cooper, who has worked with the nonprofit Communities in Schools to improve her children’s school attendance. But she added, “as a mom, I feel like it’s OK to have a mental health day, to say, ‘I hear you and I listen. You are important.’”
Experts say missing school is both a symptom of pandemic-related challenges, and also a cause. Students who are behind academically may not want to attend, but being absent sets them further back. Anxious students may avoid school, but hiding out can fuel their anxiety.
And schools have also seen a rise in discipline problems since the pandemic, an issue intertwined with absenteeism.
This hurts to read, but makes sense. Another reason that daycare should be emphasized and subsidized in this country. Caring for children makes good adults. Allowing otherwise stay-at-home (usually) mothers to work benefits everybody.
GOOD. Let’s promote this in the office, too.
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Thanks for the article.
What about school attendance in foreign countries?
Have absence rates changed differently by elementary/middle/HS? Families SHOULD be allowed to pull high achieving (bored) kids out of elementary schools (let’s say once/schoolyear) to have more convenient travel options. Missing HS is perhaps a different story.
I always heard that “chronic” absenteeism is followed by visits from the state’s social services department. This was the typical threat given by a public school when parents ask to take their child out of school on a family trip. There is no way that the government can be doing this consistently, given these high rates.
Some kids miss school and that is bad for them. Other kids miss school and that is good for them.
In the UK, school attendance has materially deteriorated post-covid vs pre-covid.
The main issue is lack of enough funding.
People are discovering that exactly one method of teaching for all is not best for all.
Downside is that a lot of those parents don’t understand that it is exactly what their “special,” “angelic” child needs.
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