Unraveling the long-term effects of COVID-19

Despite COVID-19 being no longer a public health emergency of international concern, many questions remain unanswered. It is still unclear why COVID-19 symptoms vary significantly between individuals, from mild or symptomless to very severe requiring hospitalization and in some cases leading to death. Further to this, it is puzzling why some people recover within weeks whilst others experience pre-existing and/or new symptoms months after they have tested negative and develop long COVID.

Long COVID encompasses a wide range of symptoms (over 200 symptoms) with impact on multiple organ systems. Neurological complications (e.g. memory problems, brain fog, sleep problems, ageusia, dizziness, anosmia, anxiety, depression) are among the most common reported symptoms. The mechanisms behind this are not known and there is a rising concern that long COVID may accelerate pre-existing conditions or trigger the onset of new ones such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The goal of this special issue is to gather cutting-edge research and expand our understanding on the pathogenesis, clinical manifestations and complications of COVID-19 which may help shed light on the mechanisms behind long COVID symptoms.

It is imperative to understand whether mechanisms underlying long COVID symptoms may lead and/or accelerate pathological cellular processes increasing the risk of long term health consequences such as neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. This is crucial for the development of effective diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic protocols.

Thus, we invite authors to submit articles relating to recent advances from the SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis to the clinical manifestations and complications of COVID-19.

The following aspects of COVID-19 will be covered:
-Pathogenesis
-Transmission
-Diagnosis
-Clinical manifestation
-Disease progression
-Long COVID
-Health complications
-Immune response
-Treatments
-Vaccines and antivirals
-Monoclonal antibodies