Reassuring patients they’re not going to be “permanently damaged” is a key part of managing long-COVID, the Australian physician leading a specialised clinic for the condition says.
Associate Professor Lou Irving was the driving force behind the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Post-Covid Clinic when it opened a little over two years ago, as a major wave of infections surged across the state.
Since then, hundreds of patients have been through the clinic’s doors – many who had found themselves completely incapacitated even months after contracting the virus.
One of the first patients, and the most severe, was a young mother. She had been working as a medical scientist and leading an incredibly busy life, but had become wheelchair- and bed-bound by her first visit.
Two years on, she is “completely back to normal”, one of many patients who have got better over time, Professor Irving says.
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Professor Lou Irving
With the last vestiges of pandemic restrictions easing around the country, the plight of patients experiencing ongoing symptoms is now the subject of a Federal Parliamentary inquiry.
But the topic remains a controversial one, with little clarity on the true number of patients impacted or any established model of care.
In evidence to the inquiry last week, the respiratory physician said about 15% of those infected with SARS-CoV-2 were experiencing ongoing symptoms at 12 weeks.
Just over a third of those had severe symptoms, or about 6% of the total number of people who contracted COVID-19, he said.
He told MPs research pointed to risk factors being older as well as pre-existing physical or mental health issues, although his own clinic had seen numerous patients from another group: high achievers – particularly among the hospital’s own staff.
In fact, 40% of the clinic’s patients were health workers themselves, he said.
“We unfortunately had a large outbreak of COVID with the second wave, and 250 of our own staff were infected,” Professor Irving told the inquiry.
“Some of them have got persistent symptoms. Healthcare workers are particularly at risk, in my experience.”
Clinical features
Professor Irving said patients fell into three main categories.
The first group, comprising about a third of all patients at the clinic, were people who had been in hospital with acute COVID-19. These had often desperately ill but had survived.