Autoimmune Registry adds Long COVID to its List of Diseases
December 2021
The Autoimmune Registry has determined that biomarkers of immune system activity similar to those seen in many autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases justify the inclusion of Long COVID on its list of diseases. [1,2,3]
As many as 50% of people who contract COVID-19 develop the syndrome known as “Long COVID”, which appears to affect a person for months, possibly years.[4,5]
There are several immune system responses seen in people after they have COVID-19. The widely reported ‘cytokine storm’ is an innate immune system inflammatory response that raises the risk of death [6]. Adaptive autoimmune responses have not been found in COVID-19 patients, but it took years before diseases like multiple sclerosis[7,8] and type 1 diabetes[9] were recognized as adaptive autoimmune diseases. The Autoimmune Registry believes that more research on the immune system and Long COVID is needed.
Due to the need for more research, Long COVID is classified on the list of autoimmune diseases as “Unconfirmed”.
The symptoms of Long COVID are familiar to people suffering from autoimmune diseases[10,11], including:
Fatigue
An unpredictable flare-remission pattern of symptoms
“Brain fog”, an interruption of memory, attention, and thought processing that can inhibit or prevent a person from performing normal activities
Long COVID appears to overlap with some autoimmune diseases. Myocarditis, reported among patients with COVID-19 and, in rare cases, among those who have been vaccinated, is also an autoimmune disease [12]. Blood clots similar to those found in the autoimmune disease antiphospholipid syndrome have been reported in patients with COVID-19 and Long COVID.[13]
High levels of antibodies to the immune-system proteins called type I interferons (IFNs) have been associated with severe COVID-19. Other studies have shown that severely ill patients tend to have a high concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-6, compared to those who are moderately ill. [14]
Long COVID would join other suspected associations between viral infection and autoimmune diseases. The Epstein-Barr virus is a suspected cause of Guillian-Barre Syndrome (GBS) and chronic diseases like lupus. Infection by Coxsackie virus is a suspected cause of myocarditis. [15,16,17,18]
The Autoimmune Registry has decided to include Long COVID in its list of autoimmune diseases to support research into this emerging chronic condition.
If you have Long COVID, enroll in the Autoimmune Registry today to participate in clinical research.
References
[CDC: 2021] Centers for Disease Control: Post-COVID Conditions
[NIH: Reynolds 2021] Misdirected antibodies linked to severe COVID-19
[NIH: Reynolds 2021] Autoimmune response found in many with COVID-19
[Frontiers in Microbiology : Proal 2021] Long COVID or Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC): An Overview of Biological Factors That May Contribute to Persistent Symptoms
[International Journal of General Medicine: Dreyer 2021] Identification of a Vulnerable Group for Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC): People with Autoimmune Diseases Recover More Slowly from COVID-19 International Journal on General Medicine
[Frontiers in immunology: Tang 2020] Cytokine Storm in COVID-19: The Current Evidence and Treatment Strategies
[Healthline: Roth 2016] The History of Multiple Sclerosis: How Far Have We Come
[Autoimmune Diseases: Wootla 2012] Is Multiple Sclerosis an Autoimmune Disease?
[Diabetes: Gale 2001] The discovery of Type 1 diabetes
[Frontiers in Microbiology: Proal 2021] Long COVID or Post-acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC): An Overview of Biological Factors That May Contribute to Persistent Symptoms
[Trends in Molecular Medicine: Komaroff 2021] Insights from myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome may help unravel the pathogenesis of postacute COVID-19 syndrome
[Viral Immunology: Tam 2006] Coxsackievirus myocarditis: interplay between virus and host in the pathogenesis of heart disease
[Cardiovasc Diabetol: Pretorius 2021] Persistent clotting protein pathology in Long COVID/Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) is accompanied by increased levels of antiplasmin: Cardiovascular Diabetology,
[Journal of Gerontology: Nidadavolu 2020] Underlying Vulnerabilities to the Cytokine Storm and Adverse COVID-19 Outcomes in the Aging Immune System
[Viral Immunology: Olson 2001] Virus-induced autoimmunity: potential role of viruses in initiation, perpetuation, and progression of T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease
[NIH: 2018] Epstein-Barr virus and autoimmune diseases
[Bulletin of NYU Hosp. For Joint Diseases: Harley 2006] Epstein-Barr virus infection induces lupus autoimmunity:
[Clinical Microbiology Reviews: Fujinami 2006] Molecular mimicry, bystander activation, or viral persistence: infections and autoimmune disease
