Creationist mode: 
As an example of spiteful mendacity, Creationism's beloved intelligent [sic] designer's design of the SARS-CoV-2 virus takes some beating. No wonder Creationists are so much in awe of its genius. Strangely though, they don't seem to notice the nastier side of its hateful nature, or maybe they just don't see anything wrong with making us suffer because of unresolved anger issues.
It now appears that the coronavirus causing Covid-19 and the pandemic devastating economies, businesses and families world-wide, is designed with a nasty little sting in its tail, metaphorically speaking. If you do manage to survive an attack by it, it rampages through your body causing any or all of over 200 symptoms spread across ten systems, any of which debilitates in some way.
This was the finding of a research group led by scientists from University College, London, UK (UCL) together with a patient-led research collaborative. The group conducted an online survey of patients with confirmed or suspected 'long-COVID'. The survey was designed to characterise the symptom profile and time course of the disease as well as its impact on daily life, work and return to health.
Creationist dogma requires Creationists to believe that this malevolent designer is also omniscient, so would have been fully aware in complete detail, of the effects of its design, and designed it perfectly to produce exactly that outcome. The alternative would be to believe it can be surprised by the results of its own design and blunders blindly on not knowing what will happen and powerless to prevent it when it happens. The UCL news release summarises the findings:
While there has been a lot of public discussion around long COVID, there are few systematic studies investigating this population; hence relatively little is known about its range of symptoms, and their progression over time, the severity, and expected clinical course (longevity), its impact on daily functioning, and expected return to baseline health. In this unique approach, we have gone directly to 'long haulers' around the world in order to establish a foundation of evidence for medical investigation, improvement of care, and advocacy for the long COVID population. This is the most comprehensive characterisation of long COVID symptoms, so far.
For the first time this study shines a light on the vast spectrum of symptoms, particularly neurological, prevalent and persistent in patients with long COVID.
Memory and cognitive dysfunction, experienced by over 85% of respondents, were the most pervasive and persisting neurologic symptoms, equally common across all ages, and with substantial impact on work.
Headaches, insomnia, vertigo, neuralgia, neuropsychiatric changes, tremors, sensitivity to noise and light, hallucinations (olfactory and other), tinnitus, and other sensorimotor symptoms were also all common, and may point to larger neurological issues involving both the central and peripheral nervous system.
Along with the well-documented respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, there is now a clear need to widen medical guidelines to assess a far wider range of symptoms when diagnosing long COVID. Furthermore, there are likely to be tens of thousands of long COVID patients suffering in silence, unsure that their symptoms are connected to COVID-19. Building on the network of long COVID clinics, which take GP referrals, we now believe a national programme could be rolled out into communities able to screen, diagnose and treat all those suspected of have long COVID symptoms.
For the first time this study shines a light on the vast spectrum of symptoms, particularly neurological, prevalent and persistent in patients with long COVID.
Memory and cognitive dysfunction, experienced by over 85% of respondents, were the most pervasive and persisting neurologic symptoms, equally common across all ages, and with substantial impact on work.
Headaches, insomnia, vertigo, neuralgia, neuropsychiatric changes, tremors, sensitivity to noise and light, hallucinations (olfactory and other), tinnitus, and other sensorimotor symptoms were also all common, and may point to larger neurological issues involving both the central and peripheral nervous system.
Along with the well-documented respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms, there is now a clear need to widen medical guidelines to assess a far wider range of symptoms when diagnosing long COVID. Furthermore, there are likely to be tens of thousands of long COVID patients suffering in silence, unsure that their symptoms are connected to COVID-19. Building on the network of long COVID clinics, which take GP referrals, we now believe a national programme could be rolled out into communities able to screen, diagnose and treat all those suspected of have long COVID symptoms.
Dr Athena Akrami, Senior author
Neuroscientist at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre
University College, London, UK
Neuroscientist at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre
University College, London, UK
With responses from 3,762 eligible participants from 56 countries, the researchers identified a total of 203 symptoms in 10 organ systems; of these, 66 symptoms were tracked for seven months. The most common symptoms were fatigue, post-exertional malaise (the worsening of symptoms after physical or mental exertion), and cognitive dysfunction, often called brain fog.So, it looks like, even if you do manage to fight of this attempt to kill you by Creationism's malevolent designer, it does its best to make sure you darn-well suffer. Like a protection racketeer, it lets you know you don't mess with it lightly.
Of the diverse range of symptoms, others included: visual hallucinations, tremors, itchy skin, changes to the menstrual cycle, sexual dysfunction, heart palpitations, bladder control issues, shingles, memory loss, blurred vision, diarrhea, and tinnitus...
Survey summary
In this long COVID cohort, the probability of symptoms lasting beyond 35 weeks (eight months) was 91.8%. Of the 3,762 respondents, 3,608 (96%) reported symptoms beyond 90 days, 2,454 (65%) experienced symptoms for at least 180 days (six months) and only 233 had recovered.
In those who recovered in less than 90 days, the average number of symptoms (11.4 out of 66 symptoms that were measured over time) peaked at week two, and for those who did not recover in 90 days, the average number of symptoms (17.2) peaked at month two. Respondents with symptoms over six months experienced an average of 13.8 symptoms in month seven. During their illness, participants experienced an average of 55.9 symptoms (out of the longer list of 203 measured in the study), across an average of 9.1 organ systems.
89.1% of participants experienced relapses, with exercise, physical or mental activity, and stress as the main triggers. 45.2% reported requiring a reduced work schedule compared to pre-illness and 22.3% were not working at all at the time of the survey.
Creationist mode: 
The research findings are published, open access in eClinicalMedicine, published by The Lancet.
AbstractHow much longer do we need to wait before an intelligent [sic] design advocate such as Michael J. Behe, comes up with an explanation of why they think it is better to present their god as a malevolent, misanthrope and creator of monstrous evils such as this virus and other parasites, than to accept that organisms are the result of a mindless, amoral, natural process with no aims or objectives, and that parasitism is an inevitable result of this process?
Background
A significant number of patients with COVID-19 experience prolonged symptoms, known as Long COVID. Few systematic studies have investigated this population, particularly in outpatient settings. Hence, relatively little is known about symptom makeup and severity, expected clinical course, impact on daily functioning, and return to baseline health.
Methods
We conducted an online survey of people with suspected and confirmed COVID-19, distributed via COVID-19 support groups (e.g. Body Politic, Long COVID Support Group, Long Haul COVID Fighters) and social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook). Data were collected from September 6, 2020 to November 25, 2020. We analyzed responses from 3762 participants with confirmed (diagnostic/antibody positive; 1020) or suspected (diagnostic/antibody negative or untested; 2742) COVID-19, from 56 countries, with illness lasting over 28 days and onset prior to June 2020. We estimated the prevalence of 203 symptoms in 10 organ systems and traced 66 symptoms over seven months. We measured the impact on life, work, and return to baseline health.
Findings
For the majority of respondents (>91%), the time to recovery exceeded 35 weeks. During their illness, participants experienced an average of 55.9+/- 25.5 (mean+/-STD) symptoms, across an average of 9.1 organ systems. The most frequent symptoms after month 6 were fatigue, post-exertional malaise, and cognitive dysfunction. Symptoms varied in their prevalence over time, and we identified three symptom clusters, each with a characteristic temporal profile. 85.9% of participants (95% CI, 84.8% to 87.0%) experienced relapses, primarily triggered by exercise, physical or mental activity, and stress. 86.7% (85.6% to 92.5%) of unrecovered respondents were experiencing fatigue at the time of survey, compared to 44.7% (38.5% to 50.5%) of recovered respondents. 1700 respondents (45.2%) required a reduced work schedule compared to pre-illness, and an additional 839 (22.3%) were not working at the time of survey due to illness. Cognitive dysfunction or memory issues were common across all age groups (~88%). Except for loss of smell and taste, the prevalence and trajectory of all symptoms were similar between groups with confirmed and suspected COVID-19.
Interpretation
Patients with Long COVID report prolonged, multisystem involvement and significant disability. By seven months, many patients have not yet recovered (mainly from systemic and neurological/cognitive symptoms), have not returned to previous levels of work, and continue to experience significant symptom burden.
If it were real, I wonder what they imagine it would say about the way they are presenting it!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Obscene, threatening or obnoxious messages, preaching, abuse and spam will be removed, as will anything by known Internet trolls and stalkers, by known sock-puppet accounts and anything not connected with the post,
A claim made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence. Remember: your opinion is not an established fact unless corroborated.