“The third dose protects. Here is who is hit the most ”- breaking latest news

The third dose of the vaccine mRNA reduces the prevalence of Long Covid.

This was stated in a study just released in the JAMA magazine (The Journal of the American Medical Association) conducted by the teacher Maria Rescignohead of the Laboratory of Mucosal and Microbiota Immunology at Humanitas and Professor of General Pathology at Humanitas University, and by doctor Elena AzzoliniDeputy Medical Director of Humanitas, in collaboration with Professor Alberto Mantovani, Scientific Director of Humanitas.

I study

The analysis revealed that the prevalence of Long Covid rose from 41.8% when vaccines were not yet available, 16% with 3 doses of Pfizer administered. “2560 health workers from 8 Humanitas hospitals in Lombardy and Piedmont (and Humanitas University) were monitored over a period of 2 years – he explained to the Courier Maria Rescigno -. The subjects were tested every week or 2 weeks for Covid positivity and were evaluated from March 2020 until April 2022, therefore in the pre-vaccination and post-vaccination period. The presence of at least one symptom (such as extreme fatigue, headache, cognitive fog, loss of smell or disorders of the cardiovascular system) beyond four weeks from the start of the infection was considered an indication of Long Covid “.

Who hits

The study showed that vaccination protects against Long Covid, especially after the three doses: «The prevalence of Long Covid generally concerned about 30% of the subjects, in line with what has also been described by other studies – described Rescigno -; However, by analyzing the population involved in the research according to vaccination, it was seen that the percentage of Long Covid diagnosed before vaccination was 41.8%, after the second dose it was lowered to 17%, to reach 16% after the third dose. The mRNA vaccination therefore protects against Long Covid and this regardless of the variants In circulation”. It was not exposure to the various variants of SARS-CoV-2 that occurred over time that changed the data: “The variables were screened and excluded by our engineers thanks to artificial intelligence which instead highlighted the role of vaccination and some risk factors, ”said the researcher. Being a woman, having concomitant pathologies and advanced age are factors that predispose to the onset of Long Covid and these characteristics, which have emerged in international studies, have also been confirmed by the Italian study: “With the increase in comorbidities (including a high body mass index and obstructive pulmonary diseases) the risk of Long Covid, especially in allergy sufferers. People were affected, however, even with minor illnesses, “confirmed the professor.

A worldwide phenomenon

Long Covid is a phenomenon destined to increase: it is a syndrome that occurs after Covid infection (severe but also asymptomatic) and accompanies people for weeks or months with persistent symptoms (one or more) which they generally understand aches and exhaustion and they can affect the lungs and bronchi, nervous system, kidney, intestine, heart and vessels, but also the brain with confusion, headaches and the so-called “mental fog”. Given the high number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, Long Covid, recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), could become the next world health emergency, because it is estimated that it can affect about 30% of former Covid patients. Hence the importance of determining, as the Humanitas study did, the degree of protection of vaccination against this syndrome.

What causes it

There is still a lot to understand about the causes of the phenomenon, we orient ourselves on understanding the factors that may be at its origin, as explained in Courier in a recent interview with Professor Alberto Mantovani: the general state of health of those who are infected, the silent persistence of the virus that can awaken and / or trigger immune reactions and the presence of other quiescent viruses inside us (such as that of Epstein-Barr or Cytomegalovirus) which can be reactivated, finally, the unleashing of autoimmune phenomena that would be induced by Sars-CoV-2.
The weapons available are few: for now the symptoms are treated and the only possible prevention to counter the problem seems to be vaccination.