"COVID-19 Virus Remains Like a Ghost Even After Full Recovery" [Reading Science]

International Journal Nature "Related Research Results Follow, Suggesting Cause of Long COVID"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] "The COVID-19 virus remains in the human body like a 'ghost' even after recovery, causing Long COVID (aftereffects)."

Research results supporting the hypothesis that the cause of Long COVID, the prolonged aftereffects experienced after COVID-19 infection, may be due to virus fragments remaining in the intestines have been continuously published.

According to the international journal Nature on the 14th, recently, research teams from Stanford University School of Medicine in the U.S. and Innsbruck Medical University in Australia reported that fragments of the COVID-19 virus have been found in the intestines of people several months after infection, suggesting that this could be the cause of prolonged aftereffects even after recovery.

The Stanford Medical School research team collected and tested stool samples from 113 COVID-19 patients over a long period in 2020. They found virus fragments in 83% of participants immediately after infection, 49% after one week, 12.7% after four months, and 3.8% even after seven months. The Innsbruck Medical University research team also confirmed that virus fragments were detected in the intestines of 32 out of 46 participants seven months after infection. Notably, about two-thirds of these 32 individuals were experiencing Long COVID symptoms. Earlier last year, a research team from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York also announced that nucleic acid and protein fragments of the virus were found in the gastrointestinal tract of recovered patients four months after COVID-19 infection.

Scientists are paying attention to the possibility that COVID-19 viruses may be hiding like 'ghosts' not only in the intestines but throughout the human body. In fact, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently reported that they found viral RNA in various organs such as the heart, eyes, and brain after examining 44 bodies of COVID-19 victims. The bodies in which virus fragments were found were up to 230 days post-infection. Most of the bodies used in this study were from severe COVID-19 deaths, but when two bodies of mild COVID-19 victims who had Long COVID symptoms were separately examined, virus fragments were even detected in the appendix and breast tissue.

Nature stated, "These research results suggest that viral materials remaining in the human body for a long time are the cause of Long COVID," but also noted, "Scientists still need to reach conclusions through more cases and research."