Mount Allison University researchers are studying the potential long-term health effects and complications from COVID-19.
Dr. Vett Lloyd, the biology professor leading the project alongside student researchers, said it is believed to be the first research project studying 鈥渓ong Covid鈥� or 鈥淐ovid long haulers鈥� in the province, and recognizes the experiences of a group of patients for whom the symptoms have not gone away months later.
鈥淚nitially, when you got the virus, it was thought you got it and either recovered or you died,鈥� Lloyd said.
They now know that some patients feel wiped out for months, experience sleep disturbances, brain fog and the inability to focus and other longer-term symptoms, she said, acknowledging the differences in symptoms people experience is something scientists are only beginning to comprehend.
Emily Bodechon, a health-care worker and "long-hauler" in Quispamsis, is a patient participating.
"I got sick in March," said Bodechon, and was sick for four weeks.
At the time everyone thought if you have mild to moderate symptoms, which she did, you would recover quickly, Bodechon said. But after a week-long reprieve from the illness, a new wave of symptoms arrived.
Pre-COVID, Bodechon, who had no pre-existing conditions, went to the gym three times a week and was a runner. Now, she says she is still having breathing problems and on two different inhalers, and experiences fatigue and brain fog, headaches and coughing at times for months.
People were confused why she would still be feeling sick several weeks later, she said, until she found patient support groups for those experiencing similar symptoms. Until then, she said, "I felt really alone."
Only in December did she feel well enough to go back to work full-time.
The sees the effects of long term complications on workplaces as significant, she said.
Bodechon heard about the study and reached out to Lloyd directly, hoping the study will amplify the issue. "I feel like I'm contributing something," she said. "I don't want people to experience what I've gone through."
The project will study those who had COVID and healthy people, Lloyd said. The healthy group acts like a control group, and is needed because the way a healthy person exists during the pandemic is different than how they would ordinarily, she said. People may be experiencing other stressors in their bodies and have a changed quality of life because of pandemic restrictions.
The researchers have opened up an online survey to hear directly from people who have or had COVID-19, either confirmed or suspected, to learn about their experience and recovery process. Unaffected people at risk of infection are also invited to participate.
The survey, launched at Christmas, already has 200 participants and counting, and most are finding Lloyd through long Covid or Covid long-hauler patient groups that have become increasingly organized, Lloyd said.
Student researchers Keena Gagnon and Keeley Barnable have been working with Lloyd on the project since the summer.
The project has gone through an extensive approval process and received funding through the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, New Brunswick Health Research Foundation, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and the Ontario government. The research will place an emphasis on Ontario and New Brunswick residents.
The project has three phases: hearing from patients now, hearing from patients in a year from now and looking at blood markers to see what the antibodies are doing. The research is expected to last one to two years, Lloyd said.
鈥淢y biggest hope for the research is to be able to find even a clue about why people don鈥檛 recover as easily,鈥� said Lloyd.
Many patients still experiencing symptoms long-term have had difficulty accessing treatment for a disease that at first saw so much focus on initial treatment, she said.
鈥淒ealing with chronic disease has been difficult to work into the health system in general,鈥� she said, adding that as more is learned about the long-term effects of COVID, these patients may be able to find a home in existing chronic health clinics.
