Analysis of post COVID-19 condition and its overlap with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) disease (COVID-19) triggers the development of numerous pathologies and infection-linked complications and exacerbates existing pathologies in nearly all body systems. Aside from the primarily targeted respiratory organs, adverse SARS-CoV-2 effects were observed in nervous, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal/metabolic, immune, and other systems in COVID-19 survivors. Long-term effects of this viral infection have been recently observed and represent distressing sequelae recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a distinct clinical entity defined as post-COVID-19 condition. Considering the pandemic is still ongoing, more time is required to confirm post COVID-19 condition diagnosis in the COVID-19 infected cohorts, although many reported post COVID-19 symptoms overlap with myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).Aims of Review: In this study, COVID-19 clinical presentation and associated post-infection sequelae (post-COVID-19 condition) were reviewed and compared with ME/CFS symptomatology.Key Scientific Concepts of Review: The onset, progression, and symptom profile of post COVID-19 condition patients have considerable overlap with ME/CFS. Considering the large scope and range of pro -inflammatory effects of this virus, it is reasonable to expect development of post COVID-19 clinical com-plications in a proportion of the affected population. There are reports of a later debilitating syndrome onset three months post COVID-19 infection (often described as long-COVID-19), marked by the presence of fatigue, headache, cognitive dysfunction, post-exertional malaise, orthostatic intolerance, and dysp-noea. Acute inflammation, oxidative stress, and increased levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necro-sis factor a (TNFa), have been reported in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. Longitudinal monitoring of post COVID-19 patients is warranted to understand the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the pathomechanism of post COVID-19 condition.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Cairo University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

COVID-19 infection can lead to various pathologies and complications, exacerbating existing conditions in multiple body systems. Besides the respiratory organs, adverse effects of COVID-19 have been observed in the nervous, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal/metabolic, immune, and other systems. The post-COVID-19 condition shows overlapping symptoms with ME/CFS.