Browsing by Subject "Long-COVID"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Long-COVID: Spotlight on National Institutes of Health Funding and Registered Trials
    (Mary Ann Liebert, 2022) Stone, Jennifer A. M.; Anesthesia, School of Medicine
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    Reduced Salivary Gustin and Statherin in Long-COVID Cohort with Impaired Bitter Taste
    (MDPI, 2024-11-13) Chowdary, Harika; Riley, Naomi; Patel, Parul; Gossweiler, Ana G.; Running, Cordelia A.; Srinivasan, Mythily; Oral Pathology, Medicine and Radiology, School of Dentistry
    Background/Objectives: Taste dysfunction is a frequent symptom of acute coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). While the majority of those affected reported recovery over time, emerging data suggest that 20-25% of individuals experience persistent taste dysfunction, constituting a common symptom of long COVID. Gustation is mediated by continuously renewing taste bud cells. A balance between the counteracting processes of cell generation and cell death maintains the homeostatic turnover. Sonic hedgehog (SHH) is a morphogenic protein that promotes taste cell proliferation and differentiation. Enzymatic proteins such as gustin modulate the environment around the taste receptors and influence taste perception. Hence, we hypothesized that increased taste cell turnover and reduced taste-related salivary proteins contribute to the taste dysfunction in long COVID. Methods: Unstimulated whole saliva (UWS) was collected from individuals with long COVID experiencing taste dysfunction after obtaining informed consent. The normal control included archived saliva samples catalogued prior to 2019. Taste perception was objectively determined by the waterless empirical taste test. The SHH, gustin, and inflammatory cytokines in UWS were determined with ELISA. The expressions of epithelial and taste-cell-specific markers in cellular saliva were assessed by immunoflurorescence. Results: Impaired bitter taste was the most common dysfunction in the long-COVID cohort. Salivary gustin was significantly lower in those with long COVID and correlated with lower bitter taste score. Cellular saliva showed keratin-10- and small-proline-rich protein-positive epithelial cells as well as SHH-, occluding- and KCNQ1-positive taste cells. Conclusions: Salivary gustin could be a marker for impaired bitter taste in long COVID.
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    Self-reported long COVID-19 symptoms are rare among vaccinated healthcare workers
    (Elsevier, 2023) AlBahrani, Salma; AlBarrak, Ali; AlGubaisi, Nawal; Alkurdi, Hamoud; Alburaiki, Dalia; AlGhamdi, Abdulrahaman; AlOthaiqy, Mohammed; Tayeb, Sarah; Tayeb, Nesreen; Abdraboh, Salimah; Khairi, Amani; Alshareef, Lujain; AlHarbi, Asma; AlRabeeah, Saad; Alqahtani, Abdullah S.; Alqahtani, Jaber S.; Hakami, Fatimah Hassan; Al-Maqati, Thekra N.; Alkhrashi, Sausan Abdulrahman; Almershad, Meshael Musaed; AlAbbadi, Asmaa; Hakami, Mariam Hassan; Faqihi, Osama; Altawfiq, Kauthar Jaffar A.; Jebakumar, Arulanantham Zachariah; Al-Tawfiq, Jaffar A.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected healthcare workers (HCWs). Here, we evaluate the occurence of long-COVID-19 symtoms among HCWs. Methods: This is a questionnaire-based study of HCWs who had COVID-19 in two medical centers in Saudi Arabia and were mostly vaccinated. Results: The study included 243 HCWs with a mean age (+ SD) of 36.1 (+ 7.6) years. Of them, 223 (91.8%) had three doses of COVID-19 vaccine, 12 (4.9%) had four doses, and 5 (2.1%) had two doses. The most common symptoms at the start of the illness were cough (180, 74.1%), shortness of breath (124, 51%), muscle ache (117, 48.1%), headache (113, 46.5%), sore throat (111, 45.7%), diarrhea (109, 44.9%) and loss of taste (108, 44.4%). Symptoms lasted for< one week in 117 (48.1%),> one week and< 1 month in 89 (36.6%),> 2 months and< 3 months in 9 (3.7%), and> 3 months in 15 (6.2%). The main symptoms present> 3 months were hair loss (8, 3.3%), cough (5, 2.1%), and diarrhea (5, 2.1%). A binomial regression analysis showed no relationship between persistence of symptoms for> 3 months and other demographic or clinical symptoms characteristics. Conclusion: The study showed a low rate of the occurence of long-COVID> 3 months during the Omicron-wave among mostly vaccinated HCWs with no significant comorbidities. Furhter studies are needed to examine the effect of different vaccines on long-COVID-19 among HCWs.