Hints of a long COVID wave as Omicron fades | The Harvard Gazette

CEID Founding Director Dr. Nahid Bhadelia weighs in on long COVID:

“Nahid Bhadelia, co-lead of the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness’ long COVID program, director of the Boston University Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research, and an infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center, said during a recent media briefing that long COVID studies have uncovered possible links to diabetes, high levels of virus while ill, and Epstein-Barr virus. Also, the idea that some virus may persist even after the acute phase has been bolstered by a study of gastrointestinal symptoms in pediatric cases that found virus three months after acute illness ended, Bhadelia said.

‘Could this be something where the virus finds a reservoir and then evokes some sort of immune response, or is it damage that happened in the acute setting, or is it misfiring of your immune system?’ Bhadelia said. ‘ The reasons remain unclear. There is still a lot of work ahead.’ ”

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