Coronavirus pandemic could lead to a generation of disabled people

There is so much disturbing news in 2022that many people have almost forgotten about the coronavirus pandemic. This is mainly due to the fact that the Omicron strain, found in November last year, is considered weak compared to other species - many people recover after a few days of fever. At the same time, after the disease, they develop post-covid syndrome, which includes symptoms like weakness,clouded thinking and so on. In humans, they do not go away even 12 weeks after recovery. Recently, British immunologist Danny Altmann announced that doctors and the government are paying very little attention to this. In his opinion, in the future, a “long covid” may cause the emergence of a generation of people with disabilities. Due to the consequences of the disease, which are still poorly understood, many people will not be able to go to work and perform other daily tasks.

If we ignore the coronavirus, the future of humanity may be even more difficult

Symptoms of post-covid syndrome

According to statistics, approximately 20% of those who have been illpeople with coronavirus suffer from long-term symptoms that last 2.7 weeks or longer. In December 2020, the National Institute for Health and Excellence (NICE) proposed the following classification of post-COVID conditions:

• acute COVID-19, in which symptoms last up to four weeks;
• ongoing COVID-19, in which symptoms are noticeable for 4 to 12 weeks;
• postcovid syndrome, in which symptoms last 12 weeks or more, affecting different body systems.

Ongoing symptoms include weakness,shortness of breath, headaches, loss of smell, taste distortion, heart palpitations, memory loss and so on. Because of what exactly they continue to appear, scientists still do not know, but there are several assumptions. First, during the active phase of the disease, organs can be damaged, and this damage is quite capable of causing long-term health problems. Secondly, it is possible that the virus remains in the body for a long time and provokes problems. Thirdly, during illness, blood clots can occur, which also prevent the body from functioning normally.

Scientists still do not know what causes post-COVID syndrome, and this is a big problem

You can find more information about post-COVID syndrome in this article.

How can the coronavirus affect the future of people?

According to immunologist Danny Altmann, the presence ofhealth problems will certainly affect people's lives in the future. At a minimum, they will not be able to work at the same pace, which can lead to loss of work and a source of income. In some cases, possible health problems can significantly impair the quality of life and lead to an increase in the number of suicides. At the moment, it is difficult to prevent such terrible consequences, because scientists do not fully understand what exactly causes the post-COVID syndrome and, therefore, cannot provide people with full-fledged treatment.

Due to post-COVID syndrome, some people may lose their jobs

According to the National Statistical ServiceUK at the end of January 2022, about 1.5 million people in the kingdom suffer from symptoms that persist more than a month after infection. High fatigue, muscle pain, distraction and other unpleasant symptoms persist not only in the elderly, but also in young people. This phenomenon should be studied as best as possible, but doctors do not receive proper funding from the authorities. And they themselves, in some cases, are not very interested in studying the post-COVID syndrome.

Scientists studying post-COVID syndrome are not as fast as they should be

Read also: What is known about new variants of COVID-19?

Relax early - coronavirus has not disappeared anywhere

It is noteworthy that this is not only a problemUK. The immunologist reported that at the moment there are about 5 million people who have developed health problems after infection. Perhaps there are many more such people, so the future of mankind is in danger. To prevent a catastrophe, he urged to take the post-COVID syndrome more seriously and improve the diagnosis of patients. It goes without saying that national governments should help scientists with the necessary level of funding.

It's too early to completely forget about precautions

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The result is that at the moment humanityrelax early. In China, a new strain BA.2 has already been found, which is also known as “stealth omicron”. There are reasons to believe that in the future it may become the predominant strain. During previous waves of coronavirus, Chinese people stayed at home and strictly observed precautionary measures, which allowed them to overcome difficulties. However, in the case of a new strain, even such strict measures show little effectiveness. My colleague Lyubov Sokovikova recently shared that the world could expect a new and, quite possibly, the most dangerous wave of coronavirus - you can read more about it here.