LONG Covid is one example of enduring ill health that can follow an infection. Another common cause is Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium carried by ticks which causes Lyme disease - and, in turn, symptoms that can last for weeks, months or even years.
But there is some good news - work is under way on a vaccine that cuts the risk of Lyme disease developing in the first place.
The vaccine triggers the skin to react so that the tick bite can be spotted early, and the creature can be removed before it causes infection.
It's a welcome development, as Lyme disease can cause an unpleasant, flu-like illness and other problems in the immediate aftermath of the infection.
However, while this post- infection syndrome is well recognised, this isn't the case for chronic Lyme disease, where patients experience symptoms years later, yet blood tests can find no evidence of Borrelia infections.
As a result, mainstream medicine doesn't acknowledge the diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease.
We have been here before. Forty years ago there was a wave of patients with fatigue, joint pains and brain fog, who believed their symptoms could be blamed on an overgrowth of gut candida (a type of yeast).
Since then, our greater understanding of the microbiome - our gut bacteria - has made such a condition seem unlikely.
The patients had medically unexplained symptoms. There have always been such patients: what is important is not to let irrational speculation override objectivity and science.
© Daily Mail
