What COVID-19 Does To The Body (Seventh Edition, March 2025)

Your Regular COVID-19 Research Update

Dr. Danielle Beckman

You may have been told that COVID-19 is a “cold,” or “is now a cold,” after billions of infections with SARS-CoV-2 around the world. This is patently false, and the studies below show how even “mild” COVID-19 can negatively impact your health, all over your body. This is the primary threat to the majority of people when it comes to this awful, horrible virus, and vigilance is still necessary.

As we enter the sixth year of the SARS-CoV-2 disaster, the United States of America has embarked on a campaign of self-immolation when it comes to medical and scientific research. With countless millions suffering from Long COVID disability (400 million projected worldwide), the American government has decided to turn a blind eye to the greatest public health crisis of our lifetimes. The federal government has instructed public health agencies to erase any mention of Long COVID from their materials, effectively driving a knife through the chest of millions of suffering Americans. The next NIH Director, Jay Bhattacharya, has frequently downplayed the prevalence and severity of COVID-19’s long-term impacts as part of his zealous advocacy for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and will continue slash funding that might find a treatment or cure for the countless millions suffering from COVID & Long COVID.

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As the second Trump administration builds upon the precedent the Biden administration established of COVID-19 being “over,” major cuts to NIH research funding for COVID-related treatments are happening. We will have to rely upon scientists and researchers around the world to find a treatment or cure for the millions of Americans suffering from Long COVID and likely workshop our own solutions to bring these solutions across the ocean.

Previous edition can be found here:

What COVID-19 Does To The Body (Sixth Edition, December 2024)

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Children & COVID-19

• “Imaging shows significant lung injury in kids with long COVID” (RSNA Radiology)

• Phenotypic Classification of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (JAMA Network Open)

• SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody specificities differ dramatically between recently infected infants and immune-imprinted individuals (bioRxiv)

• SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody specificities differ dramatically between recently infected infants and immune-imprinted individuals (Journal of Virology)

• “7.2% of [children and young people] consistently fulfil the [Long COVID] definition at 3-, 6-, 12- and 24-months.” (Nature Communications Medicine)

• Distinct pro-inflammatory/pro-angiogenetic signatures distinguish children with Long COVID (Nature Pediatric Research)

• Six-Month Outcomes in the Long-Term Outcomes After the Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (JAMA Pediatrics)

• The influence of genetic polymorphisms on cytokine profiles in pediatric COVID-19 (Front Pediatrics)

Cognitive & Neurological Impairment (Brain)

• SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with long-lasting neurological symptoms (Cell Host & Microbe)

• SARS-CoV-2 Infects Peripheral Sensory Neurons and Promotes Axonal Degeneration via TRPV1 Activation (bioRxiv)

• Post-COVID Cough Linked to Neurologic Dysfunction (Medscape)

• “SARS-CoV-2…may increase the risk of future Alzheimer’s disease.” (Nature Medicine)

• Altered auditory brainstem responses are post-acute sequela of SARS-CoV-2 (Nature Scientific Reports)

• Cognitive Impairments in Two Samples of Individuals with ME/CFS and Long COVID (Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings)

• Post-COVID microvascular dysfunction in hospitalized COVID-19 survivors is associated with acute disease severity and persistent cognitive complaints (Journal of the Neurological Sciences)

• The Effects of Covid-19 “brain Fog” on Electrophysiological Measures of Attention and Working Memory (Research Square)

Eyes, Ears & Nose

• Non-Hospitalized Long COVID Patients Exhibit Reduced Retinal Capillary Perfusion (MDPI)

• COVID-19’s effects on microvascular structure in a healthy retina: an OCTA study (International Journal of Ophthalmology)

• SARS-CoV-2 detection in the middle ear effusion of patients with Otitis media with effusion after omicron infection (American Journal of Otolaryngology)

Heart, Lungs, and Cardiovascular Health

From “Impact of COVID-19 on heart rate variability in post-COVID individuals”

• Prevalence of cardiovascular symptoms in post-acute COVID-19 syndrome: a meta-analysis (BMC Medicine)

• “SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a more rapid progression of lesion-based plaque volume and an increase in incidence of becoming high-risk plaque.” (RSNA Radiology)

• Cardiac Arrhythmias and Autonomic Dysfunction Associated With COVID-19 (AHA Journals - Circulation)

• Recurrent waning of anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies despite multiple antigen encounters (BMC Journal of Translational Medicine)

• Disruption in the Host-Phage Dynamics and Altered Microbial Diversity in the Upper Respiratory Tract of SARS-CoV-2 Infected Individuals (medRxiv)

• Distinct type 1 immune networks underlie the severity of restrictive lung disease after COVID-19 (Nature Immunology)

• Impact of COVID-19 on heart rate variability in post-COVID individuals (Nature Scientific Reports)

• Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence and prevalence of [POTS] (European Heart Journal)

Immune System & Cancer

From “Molecular mimicry impact of the COVID-19 pandemic”

• Pre-pandemic [white blood cell] count is associated with severity of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (Menopause)

• Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence and prevalence of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (European Heart Journal)

• SIV/SARS-CoV-2 co-infection in rhesus macaques impacts viral shedding, host immunity, the microbiome, and viral evolution (Research Square)

• Role of glycosylation mutations at the N-terminal domain of SARS-CoV-2 XEC variant in immune evasion (Journal of Virology)

• Flow cytometric analysis of the SARS coronavirus 2 antibodies in human plasma (Nature Scientific Reports)

• Cytokine immune profiles among COVID 19 patients with different disease severities (Cytokine)

• Molecular mimicry impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Immuno Informatics)

• SIV/SARS-CoV-2 co-infection in rhesus macaques impacts viral shedding, host immunity, the microbiome, and viral evolution (Research Square)

• SARS-CoV-2 uses CD4 to infect T helper lymphocytes (Immunology & Inflammation)

• Transient anti-interferon autoantibodies in the airways are associated with recovery from COVID-19 (Science Translational Medicine)

Livers, Kidney, and the Gut

• “…we found evidence for greater predicted risks for diabetes, ischemic stroke and other conditions in participants under the age of 73” (Nature Medicine)

• Role of Gut Microbiota in Long COVID: Impact on Immune Function and Organ System Health (Microbiology Immunology)

• SARS-CoV-2 proteins show great binding affinity to resin composite monomers and polymerized chains (World Journal of Experimental Medicine)

• Prediction and phenotyping of long COVID in kidney transplant recipients (Clinical Nephrology)

• A single-nucleus and spatial transcriptomic atlas of the COVID-19 liver reveals topological, functional, and regenerative organ disruption in patients (Genome Biology)

• Long-term microvascular alterations in kidney transplant recipients after SARS-CoV-2 infection (Polish Archives of Internal Medicine)

• Gut Microbiome dysbiosis and immune activation correlate with somatic and neuropsychiatric symptoms in COVID-19 patients (BMC Journal of Translational Medicine)

Long COVID & Disability

Science Magazine

• “Between 2021 and 2023, 23% of infected subjects developed long-COVID symptoms.” (BMC Medicine)

• “potential biomarkers sufficient to diagnose LC with 99% accuracy” (CROI)

• Long COVID and new onset disability nearly two years after initial infection (American Journal of Preventive Medicine)

• Differences in Long COVID severity by duration of illness, symptom evolution, and vaccination (The Lancet Regional Health Americas)

• Anticoagulant vs. antiviral therapy, recovery and neurodamage in Long COVID (medRxiv)

• Distinguishing features of long COVID identified through immune profiling (Nature)

• Identification of a multi-omics factor predictive of long COVID (bioRxiv)

• Global Prevalence of Long COVID, its Subtypes and Risk factors (medRxiv)

• Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 reservoir in long COVID (The Lancet Infectious Diseases)

• Chronic autonomic symptom burden in long-COVID (Springer Nature)

• “…females had a significantly higher risk of long COVID compared with males” (JAMA Network Open)

• “Patients with long-COVID had lower upright high frequency heart rate variability (p = 0.04) and low frequency blood pressure variability” (Springer Nature)

• Executive function deficit in patients with long COVID syndrome (Heliyon)

• “ME/CFS is a diagnosable sequela that develops at an increased rate following SARS-CoV-2 infection.” (Journal of General Internal Medicine)

• LIINC PASC Tissue Program: A multimodal assessment of the tissue-based virologic drivers of Long COVID (Polybio)

• Clinical characterization of acute COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 Conditions 3 months following infection (PLOS Global Public Health)

• Long COVID Illness: Disparities in Understanding and Receipt of Care in Emergency Department Populations (Annals of Emergency Medicine)

• The Current and Future Burden of Long COVID in the United States (IDSA Journal of Infectious Diseases)

• “…if health professionals want to effectively support patients with Long Covid, they need to make sure they feel believed.” (Journal of Health Psychology)

• Theorizing forgotten crisis publics: COVID long haulers’ information marginalization (Public Relations Review)

• “A total of 475 (prevalence = 18.9%) [Long COVID] patients were identified.” (The Lancet Regional Health Americas)

Overall Mortality

• Causal associations of COVID-19 with health and disease outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis (medRxiv)

• Persistent mortality in critical COVID-19 ICU cases from wild-type to delta variant (Nature Scientific Reports)

• “…subjects discharged alive from COVID-19 hospitalisation have an increased 30-month risk of all-cause mortality” (Infectious Diseases)

Pregnancy

• “No differences in the prevalence of major structural birth defects were observed given COVID-19 vaccination” (American Academy of Pediatrics)

• “…SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy leads to an imbalanced immune response” (Immunology Letters)

Reinfections of COVID-19

From: “Differential protection against SARS-CoV-2 reinfection pre- and post-Omicron”

• “…risk of [Long COVID] was significantly higher among individuals with multiple COVID-19 episodes” (The Lancet Regional Health Americas)

• “…accelerated evolution of SARS-CoV-2 towards enhanced immune evasion” (Nature)

Reproductive Health

• “1 in 5 men surveyed had erectile dysfunction up to 2 years after COVID” (Nature Scientific Reports)

• “…testicular damage following COVID-19-induced orchitis” (International Journal of Reproductive BioMedicine)

• Update on andrological effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19: An overview review (Andrology)

• Digital health app data reveals an effect of ovarian hormones on long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis symptoms (medRxiv)

• Rising incidence of late stage breast cancer after COVID-19 outbreak (The Breast)

• Incidence, treatment patterns, and mortality for patients with breast cancer during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (Breast Cancer Res Treat)

Viral Persistence

From “LIINC PASC Tissue Program: A multimodal assessment of the tissue-based virologic drivers of Long COVID”

• Persistence of spike protein at the skull-meninges-brain axis may contribute to the neurological sequelae of COVID-19 (Cell Host & Microbe)

• Serum Spike Protein Persistence Post COVID Is Not Associated with ME/CFS (MDPI)

• Whole-body visualization of SARS-CoV-2 biodistribution in vivo by immunoPET imaging in non-human primates (Nature Communications)

• The persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in tissues and its association with long COVID symptoms (The Lancet Infectious Diseases)

COVID-19 Prevention & Transmission

• The effect of COVID-19 vaccination on the risk of persistent post COVID-19 condition (Oxford Journal of Infectious Diseases)

• Antiviral covalent ACE2 vesicle spray (Cell Biomaterials)

• SARS-CoV-2 infectivity can be modulated through bacterial grooming of the glycocalyx (Human Microbiome)

• “Vaccinated kids at 57% to 73% lower risk of long COVID” (JAMA Network Open)

• A randomized phase I trial of intranasal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine dNS1-RBD in children aged 3–17 years (NPJ Vaccines)

• An upper bound on one-to-one exposure to infectious human respiratory particles (PNAS)

• “vaccination offers some degree of protection against [Long COVID] onset” (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)

• Monitoring reported SARS-CoV-2 variants to assess the status of COVID-19 epidemics in the low epidemic state (Scientific Reports)

• “Taiwan and Japan’s focus on indoor air quality reduced COVID-19 deaths” (Burnet)

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With anti-vax quacks Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Jay Bhattacharya destroying the National Institute of Health and their ability to study COVID-19 as well as potential treatments and cures for Long COVID, millions of Americans are facing a rather dark future. These compilations will only grow more difficult over the next four years, and possibly forever.

The Pandemic Accountability Index needs your support now, more than ever, to keep the public informed about this ongoing threat to your health. Consider a paid subscription (20% off! Limited time only!) or a one-time donation via Paypal.