ABSTRACT
About a third of COVID-19 patients experience ongoing symptoms that have been referred to as long-COVID. In cooperation with Rehabilitation Medicine and Psychology departments, we developed a protocol for evaluation and further referral of the long-COVID patients that sought our Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) consultation. The aim was to characterize the symptoms according to their frequency and to develop a screening tool that allows referral to intervention programs. Long-COVID was defined as persistent or new-onset symptoms 12 or more weeks after initial infection. In our EID consultation all patients answered a questionnaire regarding the evolution and impact on daily activities of the persistent symptoms, using a 6-point Likert scale. Participants (n=42) had a mean age of 44.8 years (IQR 18.8) and 76% were female. Ninety-five percent of the patients had a mild to moderate course of acute infection. Fatigue (78.6%), physical capacity impairment (74%), brain fog (62%), anxiety and sleep disorders (52% each) were the most frequently reported symptoms. Regarding the impact of persistent symptoms, 50% of the patients with anxiety disorders, 69% of the ones reporting brain fog and 71% of those with physical capacity impairment reported being moderately or more affected on their daily activities by that symptom. When asked "Did you recover your previous health status?" all patients answered no. As the number of new infections continues to rise worldwide, long-COVID will be a challenging burden to healthcare systems and societies. Establishing a follow-up protocol and a reliable screening tool will allow us to reach a wider population and also promote a better and patient-centered use of medical resources.
ABSTRACT
The objective of the study is to know the reasons that induce people to irresponsibly disseminate information about Covid-19 treatment and to disqualify scientific reports that reject the use of some substances for putting people's health at risk. The rapid dissemination of Covid-19, brought with it a problem equal or more dangerous than viremia itself, such as the irresponsible dissemination of information not supported by science about the treatment of this disease, endangering the health of the population by encouraging the management of risky behaviors that are not scientifically supported. The study carried out is qualitative phenomenological, in this was performed a documentary analysis of videos, and publications on social networks, as well as unstructured interviews to 12 people between 20 and 65 years of age from Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Venezuela, with inductive analysis in Atlas ti v.22 software, of 3 guiding categories on causes and perceptions of non-responsible dissemination of information and disqualification of scientific evidence, obtaining 9 emerging categories based on rooting and density, with intercategorial triangulation and informants. It was found that individual causes are present in 58%, and social causes in 48% are related to poor health education and lack of sufficient scientific arguments. In evaluating immediate, mediate, and potential influences in the MIC MAC software and after the evaluation of thematic experts, it is evident that poor health education is the most important influencing and influenced element that influences the dissemination of hoaxes and scientific disqualification of information on COVID-19. For this reason, it is recommended that governments and scientists emphasize the form of communication to the population on emerging diseases, carrying out permanent education campaigns on the subject.