Some strange "cheering" of the ZeroCovid crowd about viral persistence. What is it about? Like any pathogens, remnants can be found in some people. We have now very sensitive equipment, and when you look hard enough, you can find. That doesn´t make it clinically important. 1/9
SARS-CoV-2 is not a retrovirus, and does not integrate. Any comparison with HIV is terribly incorrect. It is not a herpes virus, it does not go latent. Yet, some RNA can be found, but that is not SARS-CoV-2 unique. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ar… 2/9
In 2020 we have seen viral persistence in some immune compromised, causing rapid selection for antibody escape in the same person. This gave rise to Alpha and Omicron variants. But, this is not the norm. Virus remnants can be found for many weeks, sometimes months later. 3/9
This is not strange and known for decades, publications.aap.org/pediatrics/art…, and can occur in many tissues. Does it contribute to long-term effects in those suffering from ME/CFS and LC? It may, but it is more nuanced than "the" cause. 4/9
Again, let's be clear, in most of us SARS-CoV-2 is cleared. In some it takes longer. We have no data this is of clinical significance. LC is a heterogenous disease, the data shows a large spread in many parameters. In a subgroup, viral revenants may play a role. 5/9
How is not clear. It may explain that in some, vaccination or antivirals bring relieve. But this is only in some patients. So don´t get yourself made confused by those that spin data out of context. In some patients and non-patients, remnants are found. 6/9
This is really not only a negative. The immune system can greatly benefit from persistent presence of antigens; prolonged stimulation and induction of durable immunity to reinfection! insight.jci.org/articles/view/… science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… 7/9
Its presence may be clinically meaningful in some people, in those in who a vaccine alleviates the LC symptoms, but that seems a small fraction. Our sensitive modern methods seem to detect what is normal with many infections, also in non-patients. SARS-CoV-2 is not special. 8/9
Don´t be made scared about this, do not let data be interpreted without context. Much data is because we look very carefully now, much data shows that something "can", none of that makes it clinically relevant or scary. 9/9
@Marc_Veld I always ask just how many people that didn’t die were carefully dissected and sampled… actually autopsies of people that died in car accidents would be interesting !