This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)--also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19--isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (pink) cultured in the lab.
This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 ( yellow )-also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19-isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells ( pink ) cultured in the lab. A blood test taken at the time of Covid-19 infection could predict who is most likely to develop long Covid, suggests a new small-scale study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in eBioMedicine , analysed proteins in the blood of healthcare workers infected with SARS-CoV-2, comparing them to samples from healthcare workers who had not been infected. Usually protein levels in the body are stable, but the researchers found a dramatic difference in levels of some of the proteins up to six weeks following infection, suggesting disruption to a number of important biological processes. Using an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm, they identified a "signature" in the abundance of different proteins that successfully predicted whether or not the person would go on to report persistent symptoms a year after infection. The researchers say that, if these findings are repeated in a larger, independent group of patients, a test could potentially be offered alongside a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test that could predict people's likelihood of developing long Covid.
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