Researchers from the GCAT|Genomes for Life group, led by the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP) and in collaboration with the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), have identified a protein in the vascular system linked to the onset of COVID-19. The study, published this Monday in the journal BMC Medicine, reveals that the VEGFA molecule is significantly overexpressed in people who have developed long-term COVID and finds differences in risk between sexes and hormonal statuses. According to the research, women have more copies of this protein, especially once they have entered menopause.

Among the many consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is one that still complicates the lives of hundreds of Catalans: persistent COVID-19, a condition that prolongs the symptoms caused by the virus for at least three months after infection. However, some affected individuals have been battling daily after-effects such as brain fog, memory loss, joint pain, and physical exhaustion for five years; the same number of years since the pathogen first made its rounds around the world. Others don't know it, but the headaches and muscle pain that occasionally incapacitate them from day to day can also be caused by persistent COVID-19. This is indicated by a pioneering investigation by the Terrassa Health Consortium (CST), which has uncovered 99 new cases in the Barcelona metropolitan area involving people who had not sought help despite having suffered compatible symptoms, especially women who had been infected more than once.

Covid transmission has accelerated slightly in recent days in Catalonia, with an estimated incidence of 78 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest this year. The previous week, this rate was 46.5, according to epidemiological surveillance data from the Generalitat (Catalan government). Behind this surge is the XFG strain, known as Stratus, a subvariant that the World Health Organization (WHO) included in its monitoring at the end of June due to the speed with which it has spread in Southeast Asia.

Although five years have passed since the outbreak of the pandemic, for many people, the coronavirus is still not a thing of the past. Long-term COVID keeps many people trapped in the disease, and in most cases, this means experiencing symptoms for at least two years. This is the minimum amount of time that 56% of people with long-term COVID spend sick, according to a study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), in collaboration with the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP). In fact, There are those affected who, five years later, have not been cured..

For a month and a half, Miguel has barely gotten out of bed. He is completely disabled. Although he is already 16 years old, his parents have had to put a railing so that he does not fall while sleeping because he had woken up several times face down in the middle of the night. In 2020, like many people around the world, he fell ill with Covid-19 during the first wave of the pandemic. However, unlike most people, he still has not recovered his life five years later and does not have any prospects of improvement. He has persistent Covid, a disease with no treatment and full of unknowns that severely limits the lives of those who suffer from it.

This month marks our birthday, as it's been five years since the lockdown due to Covid. It seems a long time ago, but there are people who were infected in the first wave and still have Covid today. They are the forgotten victims of persistent Covid, some of whom were nurses and healthcare workers who now see themselves left by the wayside. We also review what has changed after the pandemic in various areas, we see how the vaccine revolution has turned out and we talk to epidemiologist Fernando García López about what was done well and what was done badly, with Madrid in the spotlight.