A new clue to the reason some people come down with long COVID
Researchers have found a link between the FOXP4 gene and the occurrence of what's known as long COVID. The finding could lead to a better understanding of a condition that affects millions.
Stéphanie Longet is an immunologist and a COVID researcher at the University of Saint-Etienne in France, and just like 10-20% of adults who were infected with the virus, she continues to have symptoms well after her infection has resolved – a condition known colloquially as long COVID.
"I got COVID one year ago and I developed some persistent symptoms," she says. "I cannot work too long. My legs are quickly exhausted. In the morning it feels like I had run a marathon during the night, and I didn't do anything, I just slept."
Longet and other scientists don't exactly know why some people develop long COVID while others don't, in July suggests that genetics plays a role.
