Long Covid sufferers have received encouraging news from an Australian study, which revealed significant improvements in participants over time. Led by the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney and St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney, the study found that immune abnormalities linked to long Covid largely resolved within two years of infection.
“For the majority of samples we analyzed in the laboratory, the biomarkers previously indicating abnormal immune function have resolved,” the researchers reported. While quantifying the exact scale of immunological improvements is challenging due to individual variations, the study noted no observable differences between the long Covid group and the control group after two years, despite marked differences at the eight-month mark.
Self-reported data from participants also reflected this trend, with 62 percent reporting improvements in their health-related quality of life. Professor Gail Matthews from the Kirby Institute and St Vincent’s Hospital emphasized that while the findings are encouraging, about one-third of patients still experience ongoing impacts on their quality of life. “This is likely explained by the reality that patients may have a range of underlying causes for their long Covid symptoms, not all of which are driven by immunological abnormalities,” she said.
Kirby Institute director Anthony Kelleher highlighted the need for caution, noting that the findings are based on a specific cohort that experienced an early strain of Covid-19 and had mild or moderate initial infections. “Immunology is a complex science, and it is impossible to say for certain that outcomes in our unvaccinated clinical cohort will be true for vaccinated people or those infected with different strains,” Kelleher stated. However, he emphasized that for most people with long Covid, both symptoms and biomarkers improve significantly over time, offering a reason for optimism.
The study, published in the Nature Communications journal, underscores the importance of ongoing research to understand why some individuals do not experience improvement and to develop strategies to assist them.
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