23-03-2024, 10:06 AM
It has long been known that there is an association between viruses and autoimmune disease onset (eg glandular fever and MS) so I check the literature from time to time out of personal interest because I have two albeit mild conditions already diagnosed, and a strong family history of others. I've been stable for very many years, but fear Covid greatly because of the risk of it setting off something new.
I have just seen this article "New-onset autoimmune disease after COVID-19" https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/imm...37406/full.
It's a formal medical article so pretty hard to read in depth, but the last paragraph says:
" In summary, several autoimmune diseases were more likely to be diagnosed within the first year after COVID-19 than in age- and sex-matched controls. The risk of new-onset autoimmune diseases after COVID-19 appears to be attenuated with the more recent Omicron strains. Positive ANA test is more common after COVID-19 and is predictive of incident autoimmune diseases. This suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may be a trigger for certain autoimmune diseases. Future work must focus on longer-term observational cohorts and should assess the persistence and predictive value of different measured autoantibodies. "
So it seems that the risk is reducing with the Omicron variants that now dominate. Which is great news. Although of course it's still better to avoid catching Covid if possible (and yes, I have had it and luckily it was mild, although it did leave me with some digestive issues that are slowly resolving. The vaccine did its job in ensuring that it wasn't worse).
I have just seen this article "New-onset autoimmune disease after COVID-19" https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/imm...37406/full.
It's a formal medical article so pretty hard to read in depth, but the last paragraph says:
" In summary, several autoimmune diseases were more likely to be diagnosed within the first year after COVID-19 than in age- and sex-matched controls. The risk of new-onset autoimmune diseases after COVID-19 appears to be attenuated with the more recent Omicron strains. Positive ANA test is more common after COVID-19 and is predictive of incident autoimmune diseases. This suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may be a trigger for certain autoimmune diseases. Future work must focus on longer-term observational cohorts and should assess the persistence and predictive value of different measured autoantibodies. "
So it seems that the risk is reducing with the Omicron variants that now dominate. Which is great news. Although of course it's still better to avoid catching Covid if possible (and yes, I have had it and luckily it was mild, although it did leave me with some digestive issues that are slowly resolving. The vaccine did its job in ensuring that it wasn't worse).