What's with those Covid long-haulers?

The NPC Healthbiz Weekly has launched. It's your weekly briefing on topics pertinent to healthcare marketers and executives published in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions. From Chronicle Companies, organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress. More info at pharmacongress.info

⇒ Issue #148 (In numerology, 148 represents conscientiousness and diligence.)

⇒ Confirmed Covid cases in Canada as of 12/11: 445,828*
⇒ Confirmed Covid fatalities in Canada as of 12/11: 13,130*
⇒ Worldwide Covid cases as of 12/11: 69,728,763*
⇒ Worldwide Covid fatalities as of 12/11: 1,584,788*

December 11, 2020—Here we are at the end of another long week, but it was a week that brought more promising news (think Covid-19 vaccine) than we’ve heard in, oh, nearly nine months. It’s important to stay positive (but not test positive) during these times, and the news about the vaccine rollout is a definite boost to our collective morale. Good morning, it’s editorial director Allan Ryan bringing you today’s edition of the Daily CurveFlattener from the heart of the Niagara Peninsula, in Welland, Ont.

Pre-Covid, the two words "long haul" might have conjured the image of an 18-wheeler rolling down the highway (with a driver perhaps humming Dave Dudley’s tune "Six Days on the Road.") 

But now, the terms ‘long-haul’ and ‘long-haulers’ are being applied to people who have recovered from Covid-19 but remain affected by the virus. Symptoms of the long-haul Covid syndrome include persistent impaired memory and concentration, often with extreme fatigue.

In this issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Jeffrey N. Siegelman describes his experiences as a Covid-19 long-hauler. The emergency physician from Atlanta remains, in his own words, couch-bound with fatigue three months after a mild case of Covid-19. He reports he has learned more about what It means to be a patient and how he will use the experience to become a better physician. He wrote: “My test results were normal: nasopharyngeal swabs for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), imaging, laboratory results, oxygen saturation were all fine. But I did not feel fine, and still do not. I have had a rotating constellation of symptoms, different each day and worse each evening: fever, headache, dizziness, palpitations, tachycardia, and others. As a result, I have been reminded of the need to listen to the patient first, even in the absence of conclusive testing.”

A two-day online Long Covid Research Forum was held this week, organized by the International Severe Acute Respiratory and Emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) and the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness (GLOPID-R). The forum was designed to better understand what these groups refer to as Long Covid and define research gaps for funders and researchers that could help identify patients at high risk of developing Long Covid.

In Canada, as in other parts of the world, support groups are popping up to provide assistance to people who are Covid long-haulers. The Facebook group Covid Long Haulers Support Group Canada has over 10,000 members, according to founder Susie Goulding of Oakville, Ont. “[The group is] an essential part of the healing process,” Goulding said regarding the opportunity for others to share stories about Covid. During an interview with Saskatoon, Sask. radio station CKOM, she added: “The moral support we get in the group is essential.”

The NPC Podcast is back for another season. The organizers of the National Pharmaceutical Congress are proud to release our new weekly podcast series, hosted by Peter Brenders. Peter's guest this week is Mike Cloutier. Listen here now, or download the episode and play it at your convenience. The NPC Podcast is presented in cooperation with Impres Pharma

COVID CHRONICLE 12/11/2020

• Researchers may have identified the cause of Long-Haul Covid-19, according to this study conducted on the lungs of 41 people who died from Covid-19 between February and April. Researchers from the University of Trieste in Italy and King’s College London found that all of the lungs examined showed extensive lung damage. Simultaneously, 36 of those also had massive abnormal blood clotting in lung arteries and veins.
  
• Researchers at the University of Guelph’s G. Magnotta Lyme Disease Research Lab investigate the causes of long-haul Covid-19. According to this report, Dr. Melanie Wills, director of the Ontario laboratory, said: “There are people who will have these lingering presentations, and they will want answers.” She told the news organization that researchers noted a potential similarity between Covid-19, Lyme disease and SARS—some patients just do not seem to get better. 
  
  
• In a study that replicated a real incident at a restaurant in South Korea, where diners contracted Covid-19 from an out-of-town visitor, epidemiologists and an aerodynamics engineer raised concerns that the widely accepted standard of six feet of social distance may not be far enough to keep people safe. Published in the Journal of Korean Medical Science, investigators noted that one diner was infected with the coronavirus after only five minutes of exposure from more than 20 feet away in the real-life incident. The study has also highlighted how South Korea’s contact tracing plan helped researchers track how the virus moves through populations.

TODAY CHRONICLE IS WORKING ON

The Fall/Winter edition of the Canadian Journal of Medical Cannabis will soon begin making its way to readers via Canada Post. This issue will include an update summarizing the events of the recent Real World Medicannabis meeting. 

TONIGHT WE ARE WATCHING... 

Enough of those treacly holiday movies. Time for some real nostalgia. Tonight, it’s going to be "Jailhouse Rock," Elvis Presley’s first full-length feature film, from 1957. Here’s a clip:

Will be texting my niece Kelly who’s watching the movie too. That’s about the sum of our socialization these days, but a welcome connection.

HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Please use the comments section at the Daily CurveFlattener to let us know what you're up to today. Or feel free to check in via LinkedIn, email, or your choice of connector. By all means, pass this newsletter along to your colleagues.

That’s it for now. On Monday, remember to download Skin Spectrum Weekly. NPC Healthbiz Weekly follows on Tuesday. Publisher Mitch Shannon will pick up the coverage next Wednesday.