THE GUARDIAN
Recent studies have shown that COVID-19 and its aftermath, otherwise called ‘Long COVID’, thrives in Nigeria and other developing countries unreported, because of little or no testing. Not only is the prevalence of Long COVID poorly understood, but also often ignored by physicians and the wider public, CHUKWUMA MUANYA writes.
Long COVID is a complex condition brought on by infection with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19.
It has been linked to more than 200 symptoms, from brain fog or fatigue that makes it difficult to work, to debilitating pain and muscle weakness. The severity of the condition can vary, and for many people, symptoms come and go; there are days when they can function as they did before or nearly so, only to find that their condition comes roaring back a day later. By some definitions, the condition includes any symptoms that appear or persist for more than three months after the initial infection.
“When the king’s son wanted to bid his guests farewell, he ordered the local security to fire guns to the air, as a gesture but unfortunately, one of the security’s guns was facing down, instead of firing to the sky, he fired the bullet downward, the bullet hit Professor on his leg, he fell, before we could rush him to the hospital he had lost a lot of blood. He gave up the ghost at the Baptist hospital in Ejigbo,” Lawal said.
All of this makes the burden of long COVID difficult to measure, even in resource-rich countries. It is even harder to compare across studies, because different research groups might focus on various definitions and symptoms, or survey different groups of people.
According to a recent study published in the journal Nature, Nigeria and other Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), a heterogeneous collection of more than 130 nations, face even more challenges. Many have been undermined economically by a legacy of colonialism and exploitation. Healthcare systems vary widely among these countries, but resources are strained in many of them relative to wealthier countries. It is already difficult to find resources for research, and that’s compounded by the lack of centralised health data.
In Nigeria, medical experts had in 2022 alerted to deadly complications in ‘Long COVID’ survivors. They said the situation is dire because over 80 per cent of patients are not aware because they never knew they had COVID-19, they were not tested. The experts said the patients could be at risk of sudden death due to collapse of vital organs such as the lungs, heart, kidney, lever, brain and nervous system.
While COVID-19 can cause a period of acute illness, some people continue to experience symptoms, such as breathlessness, muscle aches and fatigue, for months or even years – a condition that has been labelled long COVID.
Studies have suggested COVID may have a lingering impact, including through damage to organs such as the heart and lungs, while research has suggested less than a third of patients who have ongoing COVID symptoms after being hospitalised with the disease feel fully recovered a year later.
Head, Post COVID-19/Long COVID Clinic at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Dr Iorhen Akase, said COVID-19 infection and the resultant Long COVID are still circulating in Nigeria, especially among those that are unvaccinated.
Akase said the latest study published in the journal Nature clearly shows the burden of Long-COVID globally, but also how poorly documented it is in low and middle income countries. “The experiences of the author are similar to what we have here because not many studies are done partly because the average Nigerian feels that they have bigger problems to deal with. So, as far as they are still able to move around barely minimally, they will feel that is not something. But when you try to find out have much of a burden it is not just in terms of the symptoms, but also the impact on productivity, functionality and the quality of life of the individuals. So, it is something that we have clearly seen in our practice so far,” he said.
Akase said they had set aside a post-COVID-19 Clinic in LUTH due especially as a multi-disciplinary clinic that was fashioned to deal with all the problems of COVID-19.
“The clinic was set up and still functional. We had quite a number of people who assessed the clinic. We had over 2,000 people, the clinic is still ongoing although the number of patients have reduced. They received clinical care and most were part of our research. Our study is still ongoing. First we wanted to document the symptoms people were having and how much of a burden Long COVID is in our society. Currently, we are studying the immunology damage or the kind of signatures that COVID-19 has left on the immune system of patients, among those who have symptoms of Long COVID and those who do not,” Akase said.
The neurologist said they studied over 2000 patients and found that close to five per cent have symptoms of Long COVID among those admitted for COVID-19. “Even among those not admitted for COVID, we found out that about four per cent of them have Long COVID. We are at the last stage of our research and in the next few weeks the results will be out there,” he said.
Akase said although the study is from a single centre, most of the 2000 persons are from different parts of the country, and it could be generalized or it could be an idea on the prevalence of Long COVID or what is going on in Nigeria.
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