Comfort for long Covid sufferers: blood points to immune therapy hope

Patients suffering from long Covid have distinct and measurable immunological changes in their blood, according to research which could point to a better understanding of the condition and possible cures.

By analysing the blood of 650 patients who had been in hospital with Covid, researchers found that those with ongoing symptoms had specific patterns of inflammation.

The research, published in the journal Nature Immunology, adds to similar findings in other patient groups and is among the most comprehensive investigations of the biology of long Covid, which is estimated to affect about two million Britons.

Professor Peter Openshaw, a lung immunologist at Imperial College London, said that his team’s “deep phenotyping” should be a comfort for those whose lives are still affected.

“A lot of