Abstract

There has been intense interest in the past 18-24 months on the evolution of a symptom complex in individuals previously infected and/or vaccinated with SARS-CoV-2, which has been described to represent a novel entity, named long-COVID. Included in the symptoms are chronic fatigue, myalgias, depression/anhedonia, poor sleep and in some cases evidence for autoimmune-like responses. The potential drain on medical resources for effective treatment of this condition is enormous, and there is some urgency in developing an improved understanding of the pathophysiology behind it. In the review below we argue that this is unlikely in fact to represent a new entity, but a well-described entity of long-standing (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia). Even simply pooling the limited data on our understanding of the etiology and treatment of these disorders is likely to improve substantially our ability to deal with the number of individuals presenting with long-COVID, and thus lessen some of the adverse psychological effects associated with “labeling” of this condition.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; Long-COVID; Fibromylagia; Vaccination