Long COVID the Answers

Dr Funmi Okunola interviews Professer Rob Wüst,Associate Professor of Muscle Physiology in the Department of Human Movement Sciences at the VU University in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Professor Mark Faghy, Professor of Clinical Exercise Physiology at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at the Loughborough University in the UK about the recent scientific publication that they both contributed to; the International Society for Long COVID and Post Acute Infection Syndromes (ISLC-PAIS) and the conference pertaining to this organisation being held in August 2026 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

REFERENCES

1. Faghy MA, Wüst RC, Altmann DM, Ashton RE, McMullen SB, Duncan R, Ewing AG, Hausmann E, Gupta S, Hornig M, Joffe D. "Current status and future perspectives on the mechanistic and pathophysiological understanding of long COVID." Communications medicine. 2026 Apr 29;6(1):255.

2. The BMJ Article that stimulated the formation of the nature publication "Current Status and Future Perspectives on the Mechanistic and Pathophsiological Understanding of Long COVID".

3. The International Society for Long COVID and Post Acute Infection Syndromes

Dr Funmi Okunola interviews Professer Rob Wüst,Associate Professor of Muscle Physiology in the Department of Human Movement Sciences at the VU University in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Professor Mark Faghy, Professor of Clinical Exercise Physiology at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at the Loughborough University in the UK about the seminal research they have conducted for the Long COVID community. This is part 1 of a two part podcast special.

REFERENCES

1. International Society for Long COVID and Post Acute Infection Syndromes

2. Appelman B, Charlton BT, Goulding RP, Kerkhoff TJ, Breedveld EA, Noort W, Offringa C, Bloemers FW, van Weeghel M, Schomakers BV, Coelho P. "Muscle abnormalities worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID". Nature communications. 2024 Jan 4;15(1):17.

3. Unraveled: Understanding Complex Illness with Dr David Kaufman and Dr Ilene Ruhoy

4. Profiling the Determinants of Long COVID by Professor Mark Faghy et al

Dr Funmi Okunola MD interviews Dr Guillaume Dedet MD, MPH, MSc, MA - Senior Health Economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) and

Dr David Kelly MD, MPH, MRCIP, CSCST - Public Health Physician & Epidemiologist at the OECD about their April 2026 report - "Addressing the Costs & Care of Long COVID for Long COVID the Long Shadow of the Pandemic". We also dive into their October 2025 OECD report - "The Prevalence and Impact of Long COVID in the Primary Care Population - Findings from the OECD PaRIS Survey".

REFERENCES

1. Addressing the Costs & Care of Long COVID for Long COVID the Long Shadow of the Pandemic.

2. The Prevalence and Impact of Long COVID in the Primary Care Population - Findings from the OECD PaRIS Survey

Dr Funmi Okunola MD conducts three interviews with 4 representatives of the World Health Organization -

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove PhD -Director of the Department of Epidemic & Pandemic Threat Management;

Dr Jamie Rylance MD - Clinical Lead for Long COVID and part of the Clinical Management Team of the Health Emergencies Program;

Cristiana Salvi - Regional Advisor for Community Resilience & Protection in the Health Security Division of WHO Europe;

Leonardo Palumbo - Technical Officer in Community Engagement in the Health Security Division of WHO Europe.

We talk about the WHO's support of Long COVID through advocacy, education research and community engagement and the steps the organization is taking to ensure Worldwide equity with regard to access to health resources for those living with Long COVID.

REFERENCES:

The World Health Organization Website

The WHO declares COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30th Jan 2020

The WHO declares COVID-19 a Pandemic on the 11th March 2020

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove's Speech at the UBC Centre of Disease Control Global Health Security Summit in Vancouver Canada on 5th Nov 2025

WHO Mythbusters - 30th Jan 2026-31st March 2026

Professor David Putrino is a physiotherapist with a PhD in Neuroscience. He is currently the Director of Rehabilitation Innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System, and a Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  Professor Putrino recently opened the Mount Sinai Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness in New York also known as (CoRE) and serves as CoRE’s Family Director and is also a member of PolyBio’s Long COVID Research Consortium.

Today's episode is the second in a two part series looking at research into potential treatments for Long COVID.

REFERENCES

1 Polybio Article - A clinical trial of repurposed HIV antivirals in Long COVID

2 Patterson BK, Yogendra R, Guevara-Coto J, Mora-Rodriguez RA, Osgood E, Bream J, Parikh P, Kreimer M, Jeffers D, Rutland C, Kaplan G. Case series: maraviroc and pravastatin as a therapeutic option to treat long COVID/Post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC). Frontiers in Medicine. 2023 Feb 8;10:1122529.

3 Polybio Article - Long COVID low-dose rapamycin clinical trial

4 Polybio Article - Lumbrokinase Long COVID & ME/CFS clinical trial

Professor David Putrino is a physiotherapist with a PhD in Neuroscience. He is currently the Director of Rehabilitation Innovation for the Mount Sinai Health System, and a Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.  Professor Putrino recently opened the Mount Sinai Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illness in New York also known as (CoRE) and serves as CoRE’s Family Director and is also a member of PolyBio’s Long COVID Research Consortium.

Today we talk about the pathophysiology of Long COVID in the context of describing research into targeted treatments for the disease.

REFERENCES

1 Proal AD, VanElzakkerMB, Aleman S, Bach K, Boribong BP, Buggert M, Cherry S, Chertow DS, Davies HE, Dupont CL, Deeks SG. SARS-CoV-2 reservoir in post-acute sequelae of COVID-19(PASC). Nature Immunology. 2023 Oct;24(10):1616-27.

2 Klein J, Wood J,Jaycox JR, Dhodapkar RM, Lu P, Gehlhausen JR, Tabachnikova A, Greene K, Tabacof L, Malik AA, Silva Monteiro V. Distinguishing features of Long COVID identified through immune profiling. Nature. 2023 Nov 2;623(7985):139-48.

3 Long COVID low-dose Rapamycin clinical trial

4 Lumbrokinase LongCOVID & ME/CFS clinical trial

5 Silva J, Takahashi T, Wood J, Lu P, Tabachnikova A, Gehlhausen JR, Greene K,

Bhattacharjee B, Monteiro VS, Lucas C, Dhodapkar RM. Sex differences in

symptomatology and immune profiles of Long COVID. medRxiv. 2024 Mar 2:2024-02.

6 VanElzakker MB, Bues HF, Brusaferri L, Kim M, Saadi D, Ratai EM, Dougherty DD, Loggia  ML. Neuroinflammation in post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) as assessed by [11C] PBR28 PET correlates with vascular disease measures. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

7 Fernández-CastañedaA, Lu P, Geraghty AC, Song E, Lee MH, Wood J, O’Dea MR, Dutton S, Shamardani K, Nwangwu K, Mancusi R. Mild respiratory COVID can cause multi-lineage neural cell and myelin dysregulation. Cell. 2022 Jul 7;185(14):2452-68.

Professor Nancy Klimas is interviewed about the mechanisms behind how a nebulised medication caused a remarkable recovery from symptoms of ME/CFS and Long COVID in a small group of individuals and her objective to gain the ability to extend this research into a larger population of people with the hope of finding a viable treatment for these diseases.

REFERENCES

1 Gil A, Hoag GE, Salerno JP, Hornig M, Klimas N, Selin LK. Identification of CD8 T-cell dysfunction associated with symptoms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID and treatment with a nebulized antioxidant/anti-pathogen agent a restropective case series.

2 Long COVID the Answers Episode 6:“PEM, Long COVID & It’s Management featuring Professor Todd Davenport”

3  Appelman B, Charlton BT, Goulding RP, Kerkhoff TJ, Breedveld EA, Noort W, Offringa C,

Bloemers FW, van Weeghel M, Schomakers BV, Coelho P., Wüst Rob.C Muscle abnormalities

worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID. Nature communications. 2024

Jan 4;15(1):1-5

4 Oldham WM, Lewis GD, Opotowsky AR, Waxman AB, Systrom DM. Unexplained exertional dyspnea caused by low ventricular filling pressures: results from clinical invasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Pulm Circ. 2016 Mar;6(1):55-62.

5 Joseph P, Arevalo C, Oliveira RKF, Faria-Urbina M, Felsenstein D, Oaklander AL, Systrom DM. Insights From Invasive Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing of Patients With Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Chest. 2021 Aug;160(2):642-651.

6 Singh I, Joseph P, Heerdt PM, Cullinan M, Lutchmansingh DD, Gulati M, Possick JD, Systrom DM, Waxman AB. Persistent Exertional Intolerance After COVID-19: Insights From Invasive Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing. Chest. 2022 Jan;161(1):54-63.

7 Joseph P, Pari R, Miller S, Warren A, Stovall MC, Squires J, Chang CJ, Xiao W, Waxman AB, Systrom DM. Neurovascular Dysregulation and Acute Exercise Intolerance in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Pyridostigmine. Chest. 2022 Nov;162(5):1116-1126.

8 Open Medicine Foundation: Dr. David Systrom Discusses OMF's LIFT Clinical Trial

Dr David Lyons Kaufman is interviewed about Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Dr Kaufman is a working member of the U.S. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Clinical Coalition and part of the Guideline Committee.  He is a founder and practising physician of the Center for Complex Diseases based in Seattle and California, USA which has a focus on patients suffering from Complex Chronic Disease such as Mast Cell Activation Syndrome ME/CFS & Long COVID.

REFERENCE

Afrin LB, Ackerley MB, Bluestein LS, Brewer JH, Brook JB, Buchanan AD, Cuni JR, Davey WP, Dempsey TT, Dorff SR, Dubravec MS. Diagnosis of mast cell activation syndrome: a global “consensus-2”. Diagnosis. 2021 May 1;8(2):137-52.

Gina Assaf & Letícia Soares are interviewed about the work they do as part of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative. In this episode we do a deep dive into their latest publication.

REFERENCES

1 Soares L, Assaf G, McCorkell L, Davis H, Cohen A, Moen J, Shoemaker L, Liu L, Lewis D, Robles R, McWilliams C. Long COVID and associated outcomes following COVID-19 reinfections: Insights from an InternationalPatient-Led Survey.

Dr Funmi Okunola MD interviews Professor Nancy Klimas MD about her research into the use of Monoclonal Antibodies as a possible treatment for Long COVID. We have an exciting and exclusive breaking news item in this episode!

REFERENCES

1 Scheppke KA, Pepe PE, Jui J, Crowe RP, Scheppke EK, Klimas NG, Marty AM. Remission of severe forms of long COVID following monoclonal antibody (MCA) infusions: a report of signal index cases and call for targeted research. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2024 Jan 1;75:122-7.

2 Zuo W, He D, Liang C, Du S, Hua Z, Nie Q, Zhou X, Yang M, Tan H, Xu J, Yu Y. The persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in tissues and its association with long COVID symptoms: a cross-sectional cohort study in China. The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2024 Apr 22.

3 Hope & Help for Fatigue and Chronic Illness - The Institute For Neuro-Immune Medicine Podcast

4  Appelman B, Charlton BT, Goulding RP, Kerkhoff TJ, Breedveld EA, Noort W, Offringa C,

Bloemers FW, van Weeghel M, Schomakers BV, Coelho P., Wüst Rob.C Muscle abnormalities

worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID. Nature communications. 2024

Jan 4;15(1):1-5