Is THIS What's Causing Long Covid? | Viral Persistence at 4 Months - New Study

In a recent pre-print study investigating the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2, the authors discovered 50% of their asymptomatic sample had persistent active virus in the small intestine 3-4 months after infection.

The implications of this are huge, and along with a recent paper linking the novel coronavirus to Mast Cell Activation Syndrome - this could start to explain the huge range of symptoms long haulers are experiencing - and why they're not getting better.

In this film I attempt to put together a 'Theory of Everything' - could this be the pathology we've been trying to understand for Long Covid?

0:00 Introduction
0:51 Which Long Covid?
2:53 Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
5:30 Viral Persistence
7:42 The Theory of Everything
11:22 Conclusion

REFERENCES:

Gaebler et al, Viral persistence:

Afrin et al, MCAS link to covid-19

World Economic Forum, lung damage link:

BBC, Long Covid:

Mast Cell Action.Org

Auto-immunity in Covid-19:

Reuters, 1 in 5 suffers mental illness:

Treatments for MCAS:

Symptoms research and analysis:

Atopy/Arthritis immune research:

[doshpits]

thank you Gez, honestly. i've learnt from long covid that you don't know hopelessness until a doctor tells you i have no idea what wrong with you nor how to help and even worst the plethora of doctors out there still ignorant to this issue and try to attribute it to "anxiety" so thanks for shining a bit of light into this darkness especially whilst going through this yourself, i think i speak for many when i say it doesn't go unnoticed.

[Billiardroomsessions]

Never have I clicked on a video faster! Keep up the good work and giving us all hope.

[Turtledove]

You're working hard, probably at the expense of your own health, but you are appreciated!

[immersionHEHE]

Thank you so much for this. Wish more people that are suffering could see this to give them hope.

[brian]

Mast cells live about 6 months. Perhaps the infected mast cells will be replaced by ‘good’ mast cells eventually. So perhaps over time we will reset our immune system anyway. But still like the idea of safe retrovirals to encourage viral clearance

[samanthanewton]

I asked my doctor if he seen long haulers, he thought I was talking about semi truck drivers. When I explained what a long hauler was, he said two but they recovered after a couple of months. I hope you all recover soon.

[vidateksolutions]

I am a super fit person and I have been totally shutdown. I fell ill in march, I have been sick for over 8 months, feeling constantly lethargic, brain fog, heart palpitations, struggling to recover. As soon as I feel a little better and start being active my body shuts me down with all these symptoms.

[RobinPalmerTV]

Important -

MCAS is present in most patients with the hereditary connective tissue disorders “Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome” and “Hypermobility Spectrum Disorder” usually along side Postutal Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or PoTS.

It was wrongly quoted for years that EDS affects 1 in 5000 making it rare. This is wrong. It affects 1 in 500 making it common.

EDS and HSD are both poorly understood and recognised by the medical profession at large unfortunately. Fatigue and pain are commonplace.

Anecdotally, there are high rates of neuro diverse conditions within EDS/MCAS/PoTS particularly autism and ADHD. Clearly medicine is geared towards neurotypical people, so those who are neurodiverse will likely struggle much more with symptoms and accessing effective treatments.

Covid has unearthed a lot of underlying health issues in people during lockdown, and I suspect many have underlying connective tissue disorders and neurodiversity going on.

[randymorgan]

I've been battling this virus for three week's, up- down, better worse, its a vicious cycle.. I've had a horrible kidney infection Have been on antibiotics, breathing problems mostly at night when trying to sleep, sometimes it feels like it's chocking me to death " incredibly frightening.. Something right out of a Steven King novel.... Don't wish this on my worst enemy...

[AGDinCA]

Interesting that the virus was found in the guts of asymptomatic persons. I keep wondering if this virus will ever get triggered in the future, like how the dormant chicken pox virus can produce shingles later in life.

[thethoughtemporium]

Hmm, it's interesting that they seem to have found virus persisting in the intestines. The GI tract is remarkably immune poor because otherwise your immune system would constantly be freaking out over all the microbes and harmless viruses that are part of you microbiome. Still, very odd that it isn't fully cleared out. Once you've got neutralizing antibodies, it should eventually get attacked and removed. Would be good to compare 3 month vs 6 month biopsies, and long hauler vs fast clearer.

[nomebear]

After watching a number of your videos I subscribed. I am a long-hauler, infected in January. The year has been an adventure into the unknown, and at one point I was checking out funerary plans. Eleven months later I'm still dealing with symptoms but I am miles ahead of where I was in January. I recommend anyone recovering from COVID-19 to do your own research. We're all different in the way our bodies handle it. I have always been active with long hikes and swimming. Today, I writing a new story about living.

[NeilYatesM]

Five month long-hauler here, Canada. Thank you for your videos and the work you managed to put into them. Very appreciated. Cheers.

[christiebacon]

If us long haulers are experiencing a live virus reservoir, wouldn’t a course of ivermectin effectively cure long haulers? There have been a few anecdotal cases of long haulers taking ivermectin and curing the majority of long haul symptoms.

I have been a long hauler that was mostly recovered but still had small relapses. I took a course of ivermectin and the chest tightness and shoulder pain went away within two days and I haven’t experienced any more long haul symptoms since. It may be a coincidence in my case but ivermectin needs to be seriously considered as a treatment.

[iknownothing-]

Thanks Run, this was very timely for me. Every time I think the symptoms are dying down, I get clobbered. Yesterday, 3 months after Covid, I was feeling frisky and took a long walk. Later I was so dizzy that I fell down. How f’ing vexing!
By the way, I was in the cough and fever group, but got all the GI symptoms in post Covid.
Your explanations are comforting. You are the Stephen Hawkins of Long Haulers!

[supenskylesko]

Thank you SO MUCH for these videos!!! Except for 7 days, my husband has been in a hospital or a Physical Therapy Rehabilitation facility since mid-August after getting Covid. I gave it to him before I showed symptoms. He now has symptoms and problems which are incredibly difficult to sort out, 3 months post the initial infection. So your information here is extremely helpful. Please keep searching, and may God give you wisdom which can help those who are suffering!

[carolinemcmanus]

I had COVID in March. I was never hospitalized and my case is probably what you would consider mild, but all of the classic symptoms. I recovered after about a week or two with no major set backs, luckily. Around August, I started to experience some odd GI issues and had classic symptoms of an hpylori infection. I tested positive and went on strong doses of two antibiotics and a PPI. Following the antibiotic treatment, I had terrible “die off” symptoms, followed by a host of other weird symptoms typically associated with long haulers. My most persistent one continues to be chills no fever which makes me feel like I can’t regulate my temperature, fatigue, dizziness, dry eyes, some minor itching and flushing that comes on and off, and a few other varying ones. My stomach is doing better and I’ve been eating healthy and taking vitamins, but I can’t describe what was happening to my body post antibiotic treatment. But I wonder if antibiotics threw off my gut microbiome and caused some of these odd long hauler symptoms in me. Can they be related?

[demolaj]

4 months ... need to re- examine these same patients at 8 months again

[jessicam]

I don't have antibodies (impossible to know if I had them prior to testing...) and some of my long haul symptoms got worse. Ironically the fatigue and brain fog seems to be slowly improving, but the tingling sensations, rashes, GI issues are worse than ever. I wouldn't be surprised if my body got stuck somewhere fighting against the virus and lost the battle. I am adding Quercetin and other natural antivirals, along with a MCAS diet to see how it goes meanwhile.

[raggarwal]

this makes SO much sense! All the symptoms make sense and mast cell activation syndrome makes a lot of sense. Additionally, i *think* the small bowel might have mast cells? Fab video -- and yes, I much prefer the hair ;-)