The COVID-19 pandemic, resulting from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has severely impacted the population worldwide with a great mortality rate. The current article reviews the literature on short-and long-term health consequences of prior epidemics and infections to assess potential health complications that may be associated with post-COVID-19 recovery. Past research on post-epidemic and postinfection recovery has suggested that such complications include the development of severe fatigue. Certain factors, such as the severity of infection, in addition to the 'cytokine storm' experienced by many COVID-19 patients, may contribute to the development of later health problems. We suggest that the patterns observed in past epidemics and infections may re-occur in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Background Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) involves severe fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, and cognitive impairment, leading to functional difficulties; prior studies have not evaluated risk factors with behavioral and immune data collected prior to developing ME/CFS.. Up to 5% of university students develop infectious mononucleosis (IM) annually, and 9-12% meet criteria for ME/CFS six months later. We sought to determine predictors of ME/CFS. Methods We enrolled college students at the start of the school year (Time 1), identified those who developed IM (Time 2) and followed them for 6 months (Time 3), identifying three groups: those who developed ME/CFS, those who developed severe ME/CFS (meeting >1 set of criteria) and those who were asymptomatic. We conducted 8 behavioral and psychological surveys and analyzed cytokines at three time points. Results 238 of the 4501 students (5.3%) developed IM; 6 months later, 55 of the 238 (23%) met criteria for ME/CFS and 157 (66%) were asymptomatic. 67 of the 157 asymptomatic students served as controls. Students with severe-ME/CFS were compared to students who were asymptomatic at three time points. The former group was not different from the latter group at Time 1 (prior to developing IM) in stress, coping, anxiety or depression, but were different in several behavioral measures and had significantly lower levels of IL-6 and IL-13. At Time 2 (when they developed IM), the two ME/CFS groups tended to have more autonomic complaints and behavioral symptoms while the severe- ME/CFS group had higher levels of IL-12 and lower levels of IL-13 than the recovered group. Conclusion At baseline, those who developed ME/CFS had more physical symptoms and immune irregularities, but not more psychological symptoms, than those who recovered.
BACKGROUND.Arsenic trioxide (ATO) cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction has been demonstrated with numerous cancer cell lines, including human melanoma.METHODS.A second‐line, phase 2, single‐arm study of ATO was conducted in patients with inoperable American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage IV melanoma. One cycle consisted of a loading dose of 0.32 mg/kg/day for 4 days in Week 1, followed by 0.25 mg/kg/day twice per week for 6 weeks, followed by 1 week of rest, at which time response assessment was performed.RESULTS.Twenty‐one patients (median age, 63.8 years) were accrued. All had stage IV melanoma including M1a (2 patients), M1b (6 patients), and M1c (13 patients) disease. One patient had metastatic choroidal melanoma and 20 patients had cutaneous melanoma. Twenty patients had received prior therapy. Possible treatment‐related grade 3 of 4 toxicities (using the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria) included 1 case of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and 1 case of elevated lactate dehydrogenase. Four patients did not complete the first cycle of therapy and were not evaluable for response. Among 17 evaluable patients, 1 patient (6%; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 0–29%) achieved a partial response lasting 7 months, and 10 patients (59%) had disease stabilization after at least 1 cycle, but all eventually developed disease progression. The median time to disease progression was 17 weeks (95% CI, 11–38 weeks) and the median survival was 13 months (95% CI, 12–26 months).CONCLUSIONS.ATO as tested in the current trial was found to be well tolerated and had limited activity in patients with metastatic melanoma. The application of this agent in combination with either chemotherapy or agents that target recognized critical signaling and antiapoptotic pathways of melanoma has not yet been performed. Cancer 2008. © 2008 American Cancer Society.
Persons living with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) vary widely in terms of the severity of their illness. It is estimated that of those living with ME/CFS in the United States, about 385,000 are homebound. There is a need to know more about different degrees of being homebound within this severely affected group. The current study examined an international sample of 2138 study participants with ME/CFS, of whom 549 were severely affected (operationalized as ‘Homebound’). A subsample of 89 very severely affected participants (operationalized as ‘Homebound-bedridden’) was also examined. The findings showed a significant association between severely and very severely affected participants within the post-exertional malaise (PEM) symptom domain. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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