March 15th marked International Long COVID Awareness Day. This debilitating condition is estimated to affect at least 65 million people and is increasing annually, creating a rising healthcare burden of over $1 trillion globally.
Long COVID has a variety of commonalities with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), a complex, chronic illness characterised by profound fatigue that is not improved by rest and worsens with physical or mental activity. Both conditions are difficult to diagnose and treat due to the large number of different disease symptoms and organs that are affected.
However, in spite of their enormous personal and public health impacts, we still have no tools to accurately diagnose patients and no drugs that treat the underlying causes of the diseases….