Persistent symptoms after viral illnesses such as Covid-19 are common, but a challenge to study
From 2014 to 2018, DePaul University psychologist Leonard Jason and colleagues collected personal information and blood samples from more than 4,500 healthy college students. They followed the group as some students contracted mononucleosis and a small proportion of those subsequently developed chronic fatigue syndrome — the debilitating disease also called myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME/CFS, that is frequently triggered by an acute viral illness.
As Jason and his team were analyzing data earlier this year — seeking patterns that might explain why some students remained healthy and others got sick and stayed sick — reports began emerging of troubling medical complaints lasting for weeks and months following cases of Covid-19. Some of these post-Covid symptoms, including profound exhaustion after exertion and deficits in memory and concentration, resembled those experienced by ME/CFS patients.
