Long COVID: an estrogen-associated autoimmune disease?

Abstract

Some people who have had severe to a moderate or mild form of COVID-19 disease may suffer from variable and debilitating symptoms for many months after the initial infection 1 . This condition is commonly called “Long COVID”. An exact definition is missing, but symptoms with a duration of more than 2 months are typically considered as Long COVID. The condition is characterized by long-term sequelae and can involve a range of symptoms such as persistent fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, anosmia, muscle weakness, fever, cognitive dysfunction (brain fog), tachycardia, intestinal disorders, and skin manifestations. Long COVID syndrome bears a similarity to the post-infectious syndromes that followed the outbreaks of chikungunya 2 and Ebola 3 .