Health Charité Professor
Patients with Long Covid “not well cared for, or not cared for at all”
Status: 01.03.2024 | Reading time: 2 minutes
A Long Covid patient does breathing training in a rehabilitation clinic
Source: dpa
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Those suffering from Long Covid are often chronically exhausted. The head of the Charité’s immunodeficiency clinic complains about the lack of support for these patients. Many of the seriously ill are complete nursing cases.
A good four years after the first Berlin corona patient was admitted to the Charité, according to Charité professor Carmen Scheibebogen, the support for Long Covid patients still leaves a lot to be desired. “The majority of those affected have so far not been well cared for, if not at all,” said the doctor at the university clinic. Disc arch runs the immunodeficiency clinic there.
Long Covid refers to complaints that persist beyond the acute phase of the illness of four weeks or that then appear again. Post Covid describes the clinical picture more than twelve weeks after the corona infection. The symptoms are very inconsistent. The patient guidelines cover things like shortness of breath and coughing, tiredness, sleep disorders, exhaustion, but also worries and sadness.
Prof. Dr. Carmen Scheibenbogen, Charité
Source: dpa
Scheibebogen has been researching myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) for a long time – one of the most serious long-term consequences of Long Covid. What is characteristic of this disease is that the condition worsens significantly after little exertion.
Many of the seriously ill patients are completely in need of care, said the scientist. Often there is no improvement even after many months. “Our studies also show this. If you have ME/CFS after Covid, you will still be just as seriously ill after two years.”
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According to the information, the patients in the observational study were “predominantly young people”. According to the doctor, it is not clear how many people in total are affected by ME/CFS. She assumes a high number.
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There is now significantly more research being done on the disease than before the pandemic, said Scheibebogen. There are outpatient clinics for long and post Covid across Germany and a number of working groups that deal with this. The Charité professor also heads the National Clinical Study Group (NKSG) on Post Covid and ME/CFS. Several clinical studies are planned or are already underway.
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This also includes a project in Berlin in which seriously ill people are to be visited at home and examined. The patients should be followed for six months. The study is scheduled to start in the next few months.
At the same time, data should be determined that shows how many people in Germany are affected by Long Covid. “We don’t have that yet.” She assumes that the disease is under-recognized and occurs as frequently as other widespread diseases and can affect between three and five percent of the population, said Scheibebogen. “We don’t know for sure, but it’s a huge problem because it affects so many and severely affects quite a few.”