Long Covid Can Kill Months Later; Opera Singing Helps Some Sufferers

Bloomberg: ‘Long Hauler’ Study Shows Covid Can Kill Months After Infection
One of the largest studies of Covid-19 “long haulers” has proved what many doctors suspected: Not only are many patients suffering a raft of health problems six months after infection, they’re also at significantly greater risk of dying. Survivors had a 59% increased risk of dying within six months after contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature. The excess mortality translates into about 8 extra deaths per 1,000 patients -- worsening the pandemic’s hidden toll amid growing recognition that many patients require readmission, and some die, weeks after the viral infection abates. (Gale, 4/22)

NPR: People With Severe COVID-19 Have More Long-Term Effects, Study Finds
Ziyad Al-Aly and his colleagues used the databases of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to examine health outcomes in more than 73,000 people who'd had COVID-19 and were not hospitalized, comparing them with nearly 5 million users of the VA health system who did not have COVID-19 and were not hospitalized. Six months later, those who'd had COVID-19 were found to be at higher risk of new onset heart disease, diabetes, mental health disorders including anxiety and depression, substance use disorders, kidney disease and other problems. (Wamsley, 4/22)

Smithsonian Magazine: How Opera Singing Is Helping Long-Haul Covid-19 Patients Recover 
Frustrated that she wasn’t getting better, Sheeba, whose last name has been withheld upon request, turned to the internet for answers and stumbled upon ENO Breathe. Launched in June, ENO Breathe began as a pilot program in partnership with the English National Opera (ENO) and the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, part of one of the largest healthcare networks in the United Kingdom. Working together, a team of doctors, therapists and vocal coaches developed a breathing and well-being program for people like Sheeba who were recovering from Covid-19 but still suffering from breathlessness and anxiety. Their idea was simple: Take the same vocal techniques and breathing exercises used by opera singers and apply them to Covid-19 patients in a group setting. The program is structured into hour-long sessions that take place via Zoom once a week over the course of six weeks. (It’s also entirely free.) (Nalewicki, 4/19)

Science Magazine: How Scientists Are Teasing Apart The Biology Of Long COVID 
Emilia Liana Falcone, an infectious disease specialist at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, and Michael Sneller, an infectious disease specialist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), are each leading a large Long COVID clinical trial. They are recruiting volunteers who’ve had COVID-19—some with ongoing symptoms and some without—along with a control group of people who never caught the virus. Volunteers come in regularly for medical tests, and scientists probe their blood for immune abnormalities. The goal: a biological explanation of chronic symptoms after COVID-19. The pair spoke with Science about their work, their thoughts on Long COVID, and their efforts to let the data guide them. (Couzin-Frankel, 4/13)

In other science and research developments —

Stat: Scientists Unlock The Key To Scar-Free Skin Healing, In Mice
Now, researchers at Stanford University have decoded the chemical and physical signals that trigger a particular type of skin cell to produce scars. And they have discovered a way to reprogram these cells, transforming them into another cell type capable of regenerating tissues intact. Mice that received this tweak healed from wounds with no scars, scientists reported Thursday in Science. The animals regrew hair, glands, and other critical structures. Their recovery was so complete that an image-classifying algorithm couldn’t tell the healed wound apart from the animals’ healthy, unmaimed skin. (Molteni, 4/22)

Stat: As Pfizer Discontinues An Old Glaucoma Drug, Patients Struggle To Cope
Next month, an eye drop that Carol Vaghar has taken for the past few years to manage a rare form of glaucoma will no longer be available, leaving her little choice but to consider potentially risky surgery to maintain the pressure in her eyes. The 62-year-old real estate agent developed cataracts in both eyes many years ago and after surgery, developed aphakic glaucoma, which causes intraocular pressure to rise dramatically. Vaghar tried various medications, but only one — a decades-old eye drop called Phospholine Iodide — has been effective. But Pfizer (PFE), which is the only supplier, will soon stop distributing the product. (Silverman, 4/22)