RE: https://mastodon.social/@patientled/116647429195124001

You may be aware of the hypothesis that reactivation of herpes-family virus (like EBV and HHV-6) may play a role in Long COVID.

This paper https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.19.26353495v1.full-text found that one HHV-6 protein does correlate with LC burden:

Higher salivary HHV-6 DNA was associated with worse overall Long COVID symptom severity, anxiety, and depression

But no association between amount of viral DNA and LC burden:

Shedding of neither EBV nor HHV-6 DNA was singularly predictive of Long COVID status

Note that does NOT imply there isn't a causal relationship between active herpesvirus and LC, because other factors might mediate. It ONLY means that quantifying viral DNA in saliva is not predictive.

Great work by Dr. Iwasaki and the Putrino lab!

#LongCOVID #EBV #COVID #COVID19 #SARSCoV2

Tl;dr Nearly 1 in 6 have long covid in US study of nearly 500k. 16.28%

Long COVID Persistence and Surveillance Gaps Across 58 US Hospitals

> In this cohort study of 457 950 patients with COVID-19 across 58 hospitals, validated computable phenotyping identified postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection in 16.28% of cases, 2-fold higher than diagnostic code–based surveillance. Of identified manifestations, 89.31% represented chronic conditions, with prevalence increasing through mid-2024.

> These findings suggest that approximately 1 in 6 patients with COVID-19 develops postacute sequelae, predominantly chronic conditions currently invisible to surveillance systems, representing an accumulating rather than resolving health care burden.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2849452

#longcovid #sars2 #SARSCoV2

#SarsCoV2 Ook deze week lijkt de circulatie van COVID nog steeds licht af te nemen. Het virusniveau in de rioolmonsters is lager dan ooit gemeten in de gehele COVID pandemie. Wel waren er 4 positieve testen in het infectieradar-panel, net als twee weken geleden, terwijl dat er vorige week 0 waren.

https://locovid.nl/weekbericht-covid19-2026-21/

#LoCovid #Weekbericht

Here's the latest variant picture for the United States, to early May.

The XFG.* "Stratus" variant remained dominant but fell to 60%.

BA.3.2.* "Cicada" grew slightly to 15%.

XFJ.* (led by RW.1.1) grew to 9%.

#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #USA
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Here's the latest variant picture for New Zealand, to early May.

NB.1.8.1 "Nimbus" fell to 35%.

BA.3.2.* "Cicada" grew to 50%.

#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #NZ
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Here's the latest variant picture for Australia, to early May.

NB.1.8.1.* "Nimbus" remained dominant, growing to 64%.

BA.3.2.* "Cicada" was fell to 14%.

#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #Australia
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