Internal Medicine Faces a New Challenge as SARS-CoV-2 Infection Becomes Chronic

ABSTRACT

Limited research has been done on the follow-up and long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection, despite the fact that there is growing evidence to support the idea that many SARS-CoV-2 patients, even those with mild symptoms or those who are asymptomatic, develop either long-term symptoms that negatively impact their quality of life or sequelae that may be fatal or crucial to their survival [1]. According to the guidelines, the acute phase of an infection lasts from the time it first manifests itself until four weeks have passed. In a similar vein, the Spanish Society for General Medicine (SEMG, to give it the Spanish acronym) published data from its survey of individuals with "long COVID," a term the society uses to refer to the collection of symptoms affecting multiple organs in individuals with COVID-19 (with or without a confirmed diagnosis) who continue to experience symptoms after what is thought to be the acute phase of the disease has ended4. 1,834 of the 2,120 patients who took part in the survey had symptoms consistent with long COVID.