Long Covid: Better diagnostics required
Bless you
In order to be able to recognize long Covid cases more quickly, better diagnostics are needed. This request now comes from the Occupational Medical Service in Salzburg. It is currently said that it often takes several months for a long Covid diagnosis to be made.
Occupational physicians assume that around a tenth of those suffering from corona will develop long-Covid symptoms. The Long-Covid symptoms are varied: exhaustion, difficulty falling asleep or sore throat and body aches are just as possible as, for example, problems with concentration or memory.
Around a tenth of people with corona suffer from it for several months or sometimes a year or longer. Long Covid can also follow corona infections without major symptoms. That is why a long-Covid illness is so difficult to determine.
Own diagnostic centers required
At present, those affected often have to go from general practitioners to several specialists for months before the diagnosis is certain. It would therefore be good if there were separate diagnostic centers for long-term suspected cases of Covid, where the necessary findings could be made quickly, says Ortrud Gräf from the Occupational Medical Service in Salzburg.
“It’s about findings on the lungs, neurology or cardiology. Then you would have such specialist medical expertise at hand within a relatively short time. We know from our own experience how long it takes, for example, if you want to have an appointment with a neurologist who is also a panel doctor.”
“An exact diagnosis takes three months anyway”
It takes about three months anyway before one can speak of Long Covid, adds Gräf. The occupational physician is currently confronted with the late effects of the delta wave in November and December. According to experts, it is not yet possible to foresee how many long-Covid cases will follow from the current Omicron wave.