A new blood test could soon be developed that can identify long Covid with researchers having uncovered “autoantibodies” that don’t appear in patients who recover quickly.
While antibodies attack viruses, autoantibodies turn on the healthy cells and could be the reason for the lengthier Covid symptoms, researchers at Imperial College London have reportedly found.
Danny Altmann, professor of immunology, who has been studying long Covid has said that a blood test could detect it and be ready within six to 18 months.
He is concerned that with the opening up in the UK on July 19 that Covid cases will soar and include a big increase in the long version.
At the same time he is believes that the NHS would find it difficult to cope.
“It’s hard to escape a prediction that 100,000 new infections a day equates to 10,000 to 20,000 long Covid cases a day, especially in young people. That’s a lot of damage to a lot of lives,” he reportedly said.
Talking to BBC Panorama he is though positive about identifying long Covid and said the findings by Imperial researchers was an “exciting” advancement.
He said: “I’m fairly optimistic, so I’d hope that within six months we’d have a simple blood test that you could get from your GP.”
Prof Altmann says it is possible that some people will have long Covid with the virus staying in the body while others will have other problems with their immune systems.
At this stage long Covid is a term given to people who have extended symptoms, over two weeks, and can often see people who were previously active now getting bed-ridden from tiredness after light exercise like shopping.
