Experts question research suggesting long COVID symptoms may depend on variant – CTV
April 4, 2022
While new research suggests that symptoms linked to long COVID could vary depending on which COVID-19 variant a person is infected with, infectious disease experts say they are not completely convinced this is the case.
The data is based on a study involving 428 long COVID patients treated at a post-COVID outpatient service between March 2020 and June 2021, while the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and the Alpha variant were both in circulation. It suggests that those who contracted the Alpha variant encountered different neurological and emotional symptoms when compared with those who were infected with the original strain of SARS-CoV-2.
When the Alpha variant was the dominant strain, there were more instances of muscle aches and pains, insomnia, brain fog, and anxiety and depression among long COVID patients. Meanwhile, symptoms such as the loss of smell, difficulty swallowing and impaired hearing were less common.
