April 14, 2023 – The likelihood of developing Long COVID appears to diminish sharply between an individual’s first and second infection, a latest study from the United Kingdom shows.
More than 500,000 people reported their symptoms in an ongoing survey. accordingly the British Office for National Statistics.
About 4% of adults surveyed reported having long-COVID symptoms 4 weeks after the initial infection. However, of those that didn't have long-COVID symptoms after the initial infection, only 2.4% reported such symptoms after the second infection.
“It appears that the risk of developing Long Covid is significantly lower the second time than the first time,” says Daniel Ayoubkhani, a statistician on the Office for National Statistics within the United Kingdom. said NPR.
The most typical long-COVID symptoms were fatigue, difficulty concentrating, muscle pain and shortness of breath.
The British study didn't provide any information on why individuals are less more likely to develop long COVID after a second infection, but Ayoubkhani said it may very well be because they've gained immunity from the primary infection or are simply less prone to COVID-19 infection in the primary place.
The study's conclusions are just like those of a US study on the VA medical system.
“We certainly see very, very clearly that the risk is lower with a second infection than with a first infection,” Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, an epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis who led the study, told NPR.