COVID discussions are majorly centered on COVID symptoms like fever, cough, itchy throat, and long COVID symptoms which are seen weeks and months after the infection.
In between the possibility of COVID and long COVID is there a medium COVID that we are unknowingly missing out on? If it's not long COVID then can we say it's medium COVID? Experts agree with this!
While we have so many discussions around long COVID we are possibly ignoring the short-term signs that resolve within a short time but greatly affect our daily life.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says, long COVID conditions start three months after COVID and the symptoms and effects continue for at least two months.
What do experts say about medium COVID?
The necessity to come up with this term originates from the conditions that are currently seen in some people.
Coronavirus: Symptoms and signs that are linked to COVID, but a...
As per one health expert, the idea of medium COVID comes from those patients who recover within weeks and before getting into the long COVID phase.
"Some patients fall between those recovering within 2-3 weeks and patients having long COVID. Those patients in the gap could be lumped into a middle-range COVID," Mouhib Naddour, MD, a pulmonary specialist with Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, California told a health journal.
"The majority of patients we're seeing in this group could be healthy young patients who get COVID, then 2-3 weeks after they test negative, still have lingering symptoms," he adds.
What are the effects of medium COVID?
Though the duration of medium COVID is less in comparison to long COVID, it is as debilitating as the long COVID.
What we know from the symptoms shown in people and the diagnosis done by health experts, in medium COVID people experience the same symptoms for a shorter duration.
So, if you are unable to smell if your milk has gone bad, it is going to affect your daily life for whatever duration it stays with you. Doesn't matter if it's a short-lived or a long-term condition, signs like fatigue, loss of smell, or loss of taste, will adversely affect your life.
What are the symptoms of medium COVID?
As gathered from various reports, the common signs and symptoms of medium COVID are similar to that seen in people when they are having long COVID.
Fatigue, difficulty breathing, chest tightness, dry cough, chest pain, muscle and joint pain, difficulty sleeping, and mood swings are the common signs people experience for a shorter period of time after the COVID infection.
How long does long COVID persist?
"Post COVID-19 condition is usually diagnosed three months after COVID-19. This allows the healthcare provider to rule out the normal recovery process after an illness. The symptoms and effects last for at least two months," the WHO has said.
But there have been reports of long COVID persisting for an even longer duration.
"Patients with long COVID report prolonged, multisystem involvement and significant disability. By seven months, many patients have not yet recovered (mainly from systemic and neurological/cognitive symptoms), have not returned to previous levels of work, and continue to experience significant symptom burden," says a 2021 research study.
