From long Covid to CFS – 7 crippling post-viral illnesses that can strike as Violet Affleck shares health struggles
JUST a few years ago, the sight of someone wearing a face mask was commonplace.
But a mask-wearing Violet Affleck made headlines this week after revealing she’d suffered from a “post viral condition” as she blasted current mask mandates at a Los Angeles city board meeting.
The 18-year-old is the eldest daughter of former Hollywood power couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner and attended the meeting to address the lack of mask wearing in the city’s hospitals.
It’s not the first time Violet has been spotted out in public sporting an N95 mask.
She’s been snapped wearing one at a party with her dad and stepmum J-Lo, as well as running errands with her family.
Fans might have assumed the teen was trying to maintain some form of privacy, but Violet revealed she’d adopted mask-wearing after suffering a devastating health condition a few years ago.
“I contracted a post-viral condition in 2019,” Violet said in a passionate speech delivered at the LA city board meeting on Tuesday.
“I’m OK now, but I saw first-hand that medicine does not always have answers to the consequences of even minor viruses.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown that into sharper relief.”
Violet didn’t give any additional details about her condition, but she called on officials to do more to help people with long Covid.
“We must expand the availability of free tests and treatment and, most importantly, the county must oppose mask bans for any reason,” she pleaded.
“They do not keep us safer, they make vulnerable members of our community less safe and make everyone less able to participate in Los Angeles together.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, a post-viral condition occurs following a viral infection, and is characterised by fatigue, lethargy, memory loss, inability to focus, and exhaustion that can last for months following the initial infection.
Nowadays, most of us will have at least a vague idea of what long Covid is.
Leaving a trail of people grappling with debilitating symptoms even after they’d supposedly recovered from the infection, it’s characterised by extreme tiredness, shortness of breath, brain fog, heart palpitations and joint pain.
But Covid is just one of many illnesses that can cause severe and widespread damage to the body, leaving people with lingering symptoms.
“All manner of infectious agents, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites, has been implicated in post-acute infection syndromes pathogenesis,” researchers from Yale and Columbia University wrote in a 2022 study published to the journal Nature Medicine.
“Unfortunately, the association between acute infectious diseases and unexplained chronic disability remains understudied, which leads to poor recognition of these conditions in clinical practice.”
From chronic fatigue syndrome to post-sepsis syndrome, here are the post-viral and post-acute infection illnesses to know.
1. Chronic fatigue syndrome
Myalgic encephalomyelitis, also called chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS, is a long-term neurological disease that can affect different parts of the body with varying degrees of severity.
It’s estimated to affect 250,000 people in the UK, according to Action for ME.
The most common symptom is extreme tiredness that can make it difficult to do normal activities like taking a shower, cooking a meal or going to work or school, the NHS says.
Sleep issues – like insomnia or sleeping too much – are also common, as well as problems with thinking and memory.
Some people with ME/CFS may have pain in different parts of their body or flu-like symptoms, such as high temperature, headache and aching joints or muscles.
Symptoms tend to get worse after physical or mental activity and it can sometimes take sufferers weeks to get better.
The cause or causes of ME/CFS aren’t well understood.
It can be triggered by certain infections, including mononucleosis, herpes or a Covid-19 infection.
In fact, those who have long Covid often meet the definition of ME/CFS, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Non-viral triggers can include salmonella, tuberculosis and Lyme disease, Action for ME states.
But often the exact cause of ME/CFS isn’t always apparent.
2. Long Covid
Unsurprisingly, long Covid has been the subject of extensive study over the past few years.
It’s a chronic condition occurring after a Covid-19 infection. Most people tend to feel better within a few days or weeks of getting Covid but for some, symptoms can last a lot longer.
According to the NHS, the most common symptoms of long Covid include:
- Extreme tiredness (fatigue)
- Feeling short of breath
- Problems with your memory and concentration – also known as “brain fog”
- Heart palpitations
- Dizziness
- Joint pain and muscle aches
But others may also experience loss of smell, chest pain, insomnia, depression and anxiety, the feeling of pins and needles, as well as tinnitus and earaches and rashes – this is just to name a few symptoms.
It’s been estimated that up to two million Brits may have long Covid.
The chances of having long-term symptoms doesn’t seem to be linked to how ill you were when you were first infected.
Studies also suggest that people who’ve had Covid are at increased risk of serious health complications months and years later – including heart and lung issues, kidney problems, and liver injury.
3. ‘Long colds’ and ‘long flu’
Scientists last year revealed the existence of ‘long colds’ and ‘long flu’.
Experts at Queen Mary University of London said lingering symptoms from the common cold are actually a fairly common occurrence, with people complaining of coughing, stomach pain and diarrhoea for weeks after their initial illness.
The same goes for ‘long flu’ – researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis followed patients for 18 months after being admitted to hospital with the common illness.
The study – published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases – found that flu patients were at risk experiencing lingering disease, reporting symptoms like persistent shortness of breath and a cough.
In fact, it’s been suggested that almost any viral infection can leave people feeling tired and weak for weeks and months after they’ve supposedly recovered from it.
Medical News Today referred to these ongoing symptoms triggered by viruses as “post viral syndrome”, saying it could be caused by:
- The common cold
- Flu
- West Nile virus
- Pneumonia
- Epstein-Barr virus
- Herpes
- HIV
- Covid-19
4. Guillain-Barré Syndrome
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare disorder where the body’s immune system damages the nerves, resulting in muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.
Symptoms tend to start with numbness, weakness, pain and pins and needles spreading from the hands and feet up the limbs, the NHS says.
It’s treatable and most people will eventually make a full recovery, but it can occasionally be life-threatening and one in five people are left with long-term problems, such as difficulty walking, balance problems and extreme tiredness.
How to manage post-viral fatigue
POST-viral fatigue affects people of all ages.
How long someone experiences fatigue for and the severity of their symptoms doesn’t always reflect the severity of the initial infection or their previous fitness levels.
Some people can be very unwell at the start of the illness but recover relatively quickly, whilst other people may only have a mild viral illness but go on to have debilitating fatigue for a long time afterwards.
The British Association of Clinicians in ME/CFS had some tips for dealing with fatigue after an illness.
- Rest both your body and your mind – do very little, no TV, phones or using the internet. Use relaxation, breathing and meditation apps to help support quality rest
- Keep activity levels low – both physical and cognitive activities as they both use energy. If you are struggling with boredom, your mind is busy, or you are anxious, try and think of low-energy activities that are enjoyable. Do these for short periods of time with regular rest breaks
- Nourish your body – keep eating and drinking. Little and often may help if your appetite is low, rather than big meals. Increase your fluid intake, especially if you are not managing to eat as much.
- Move – get up and move around slowly and gently a few times each day to keep your body moving and to aid circulation. If you are too unwell for this, try and move around in bed a little – stretching out, moving all of your joints, and tensing and relaxing your muscles
- Allow time – Infections can affect people to different degrees, so give yourself the time you need to recover. The impact afterwards doesn’t always reflect the severity of the infection. Often there will be pressure to get back to your usual activities as soon as possible, but do not rush or push
- Stop studies and work – Unless you feel fully well, you should stop studies or work to allow your body to focus on fighting the infection and recovering
Source: NHS North Bristol
While its cause is not fully understood, the syndrome often follows infection with a virus or bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“About two-thirds of people with GBS were sick with diarrhoea or respiratory illness days or weeks before developing symptoms,” it added.
One of the most common risk factors is infection with the bacteria Campylobacter jejuni, which causes gastroenteritis.
People can also develop the rare condition after having the flu or being infected with the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever – also known as kissing disease.
5. Post-sepsis syndrome
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition, caused by the body overreacting to an infection and causing organs to shut down – so recovery can often be challenging.
But around 40 per cent of people who develop sepsis could go on to suffer physical, cognitive, and psychological after effects, according to The UK Sepsis Trust.
Common physical symptoms brought on by post-sepsis syndrome include:
- Excessive tiredness
- Poor mobility and muscle weakness
- Breathlessness and chest pains
- Swollen limbs due to excessive fluid in the tissues
- Joint and muscle pains
- Insomnia
- Hair loss
- Dry and flaking skin and nails
- Taste changes
- Poor appetite
- Changes in vision
- Changes in sensation in limbs
- Repeated infections from the original site or a new infection
- Reduced kidney function
- Feeling cold
- Excessive sweating
People can also be saddled with psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression, flashbacks and nightmares, as well as memory loss and mood swings.
6. Post-dengue fatigue syndrome
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection that’s spread from mosquitoes to people.
It’s most common in tropical and subtropical regions, though critters carrying the virus have recently been spotted across Europe.
Most people who get bitten by an infected mozzie won’t have any symptoms.
But for those who do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and rash.
Some go on to develop severe dengue and need care in a hospital, the World Health Organization said.
According to Yale and Columbia scientists, post-dengue fatigue syndrome can sometimes follow an dengue infection.
Studies show people who’ve recovered from dengue still suffering with debilitating fatigue months afterwards.
The risk is also present following a chikungunya infection, another mosquito-borne virus that causes fever and joint pain, as well as a West Nile virus infection.
7. Post-giardiasis symptoms
Finally, giardiasis – a tummy bug triggered by a tiny parasite – might also cause lingering symptoms after recovery, Yale and Columbia scientists suggested.
“Prolonged, debilitating, chronic symptoms have long been reported in a subset of patients after common and typically non-serious infections [such as] an outbreak of Giardia lamblia, an intestinal parasite that usually causes acute intestinal illness,” they said.
“In fact, several studies identified the association of this outbreak of giardiasis with chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and fibromyalgia persisting for many years.”