> It is common — affecting anywhere from 5% to 50% of people who contract COVID-19<p>Studies that claim these prevalences either suffer from massive selection bias (e.g. only use COVID cases that were severe enough to end up in health records [0]) or consider even minor symptoms lasting more than a few weeks (like a persistent cough) as “long COVID.”<p>Upwards of 80% of the US had been infected with COVID as of June 2022 [1]. If serious long-COVID symptoms indeed occurred in 5-50% of COVID cases, that would mean 4-40% of Americans are currently suffering from debilitating long-term illness, which would be obvious on a societal level. We simply do not see this [2].<p>Do severe long term COVID cases exist? Absolutely, as is the case with other infections, like influenza [3]. But they are nowhere near as prevalent as otherwise reputable publications claim.<p>[0] <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/more-than-1-in-5-covid-survivors-may-develop-long-covid-cdc-study-suggests/" rel="nofollow">https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/05/more-than-1-in-5-cov...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/Projects/COVID/2022/102_briefing_United_States_of_America_8.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/Project...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/06/long-covid-chronic-illness-disability/661285/" rel="nofollow">https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/06/long-covi...</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58726775.amp" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.com/news/health-58726775.amp</a>
Covid reactivated my cold sores. I usually get one every year or two, can feel it when it's about to happen, and Abreva (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Docosanol" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Docosanol</a>) kills it before it even breaks the skin.<p>During covid I got a vicious one on my lip like I've never had before and that Abreva had no effect on, and another awful one <i>in my nose</i> which has never happened before. Almost the only bad effect of covid that lasted longer than the first day.<p>Can covid damage some immune subsystem that usually suppresses herpes?
Just to add anecdata: both myself and partner got our booster in early december 2021. Right before christmas, my partner came down with covid. I didn't bother to isolate from her because it would have been ineffective given our living space.<p>I never came down with symptoms myself - but 3 weeks later, I developed shingles, aka herpes zoster. Do not recommend the experience.
They have been asking the same question about ME/CFS for decades. Either Herpes or Epstein Barr Virus, both of which often get reactivated after certain infections. So far anti virals that work against Herpes and EBV haven't done much to aid sufferers so if they are responsible no known treatments help most people.
Any infection you have will deplete one nutrient or another, and if you have a genetic susceptibility, this depletion might be much greater than someone else. To correct these nutrition depletion to keep these viruses in check, you will need to take mega doses of the supplement for a short period.<p>If you are still one of these people that think zinc does not play a role in COVID outcomes I have nothing left to say but: By destroying the ACE2 receptor, SARS2 causes a depletion of zinc since zinc makes up the structure of ACE2 and prevents the recycling of zinc in the cell.<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197122030730X" rel="nofollow">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S120197122...</a><p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18880-0" rel="nofollow">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18880-0</a><p>And hey and guess what. They find that people with zinc deficiency have more herpes out breaks!<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283972/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3283972/</a><p>Why? Because the same thing happens with herpes but with NECTIN1 receptor and ADAM10. Low zinc means less ADAM10 activity and more NECTIN1 on the cell and therefor more herepes virus replication.<p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906284/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2906284/</a><p>So what might be happening with the low cortisol they speak of in the study?<p>ACE2 is all over the adrenal gland, and when ACE2 is destroyed the adrenal gland shuts down and cannot release as much cortisol.<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.593179/full" rel="nofollow">https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.5931...</a><p>Now, many of you will come back as show me all the studies that reveal that zinc actually reduces cortisol. And I agree, but do you know why? When someone is not zinc deficiency, adding more zinc will trigger ADAM17 to cleave ACE2 off the cell and create Soluble ACE2. Zinc the ACE2 is not on the adrenal gland anymore cortisol will not be released.<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/viruses/viruses-12-00491/article_deploy/html/images/viruses-12-00491-g001.png" rel="nofollow">https://www.mdpi.com/viruses/viruses-12-00491/article_deploy...</a><p>But in a zinc deficient state there is not enough ACE2 to start with and ADAM17 activity is also low. By taking zinc and correcting the deficiency you will increase activity for both ACE2 and ADAM17.<p>If you know someone or if you have long covid, I highly suggest that you at least get your serum zinc levels tested.
It's probably related to Zinc deficiency caused by covid.<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3897803/#:~:text=Zinc%20ions%20have%20been%20reported%20to%20be%20antiviral,and%20severity%20of%20human%20orolabial%20and%20genital%20infections" rel="nofollow">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3897803/#:~:text=Zinc%20ions...</a>.<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22845574" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22845574</a>