First Tissue Bank May Help Solve Mystery of Long COVID Misery

UC San Francisco will launch the world’s first tissue bank with samples donated by patients with long COVID. The move follows research indicating that the virus can continue to linger throughout the body and may hold the key to understanding the cause of the debilitating disorder and lead to effective treatments.

By October 2023, an estimated 14% of Americans had or had had long COVID, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disorder may appear as a continuation of the original COVID symptoms or manifest as new symptoms affecting any part of the body. In serious cases multiple body systems are affected, including the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and skin.

Recent studies have shown that in patients with long COVID, the SARS-CoV-2 virus may not fully clear after the initial infection. Instead, the virus remains in what scientists have termed “viral reservoirs,” identified in patient tissue months or even years later. These reservoirs are now believed to be a primary driver of long COVID, provoking the immune system to respond by prompting conditions like blood clotting disorders and inflammation and cognition dysfunction.