Post Covid-19 syndrome, or as some people call themselves, “long haulers,” seems to be affecting a certain segment of the patient population that have been infected with Covid-19. These patients have developed long- term symptoms after being infected with the novel COVID-19 virus. Many of these patients have difficulty with various symptoms, usually including shortness of breath which seems to be worsened with ambulation, fatigue, myalgias and arthralgias, otherwise known as muscle aches and joint pain. It appears that the virus causes damage to various organs in the body including the heart, lungs, kidneys and digestive tract.
It appears that an abnormal inflammatory response to the virus maybe be the mechanism involved in creating the Post COVID-19 syndrome. Many of these patients, unfortunately, have normal routine blood work. There are, however, other markers that may indicate an abnormal inflammatory response due to Covid 19. These include trans growth factor beta one, otherwise known as TGF beta-1 and IL-6. Several patients that I have seen with Post Covid-19 syndrome also have abnormal coagulation issues, where it appears that these patients develop a hypercoagulable state. In these patients, it is not that they have blood clots in the major vessels, but it appears to be related more to the microvasculature. Recently I’ve had some success in reversing the hypercoagulable state in a few patients using nattokinase. Unfortunately, this is only a small fraction of the patients that I am seeing with Post Covid-19 syndrome.
Recently Leronlimab has been shown to improve the outcome in patients with acute COVID-19. Leronlimab is a monoclonal antibody blocker of CCR5, originally developed to treat HIV-1 infection. As part of an open label compassionate use therapeutic program, it was administered for acute COVID-19 with good success. We are now looking to develop a clinical trial using Leronlimab for patients who suffer with Post Covid- 19 syndrome. If you, or someone you know, falls into this category and are in the metro Atlanta area, please feel free to contact us.
