More than 18,000 Galway people could be suffering from Long Covid, a term used to describe Covid-19 effects that continue for weeks or months after the initial illness, according to statistics released by the Independent Roscommon/Galway TD, Denis Naughten.
He is urging the Government to treat this surge in Long Covid patients with the same urgency as the initial Covid-19 infections.
He wants to ensure that the 18,245 Galway adults who are trying to manage this illness are given access to the medical care they need.
"Galway patients are trying to access medical care as part of the 336,451 adults nationally who are likely to be suffering from Long Covid, and despite promises since last September, we are still waiting for a treatment pathway to be put in place by the HSE," he says.
Deputy Naughten provided the first analysis and county by county breakdown of the number of adults nationally who are likely to be suffering from Long Covid based on research conducted in Ireland and the Netherlands.
Using this analysis, it is estimated that 18,245 people in Galway have Long Covid. The countrywide numbers are "just staggering", he says.
"Dublin has the highest number of patients suffering the long-term effects of Covid-19 with 100,650, with County Leitrim at the other end of the scale with 2,075 patients. However, by population, County Carlow has the most patients with Long Covid at 4,750 yet their neighbours in County Wicklow have the lowest incidence of Long Covid by population at 8,636, followed closely by County Wexford at 9,093.
"These figures are based on research published earlier this month in The Lancet [one of the world's oldest and best-known general medical journals] by a team of researchers in the Netherlands who have attributed Long Covid symptoms to 12.7 per cent of patients infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and research on blood donors published last month by Ireland's Health Protection Surveillance Centre which indicates that 69 per cent of adults in Ireland have been infected by the virus."
Symptoms of Long Covid include fatigue and brain fog, which are experienced at least three months after the initial infection for significant periods of time, in some cases, more than two years.
Professor Jack Lambert, a consultant in infectious diseases at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, told the Oireachtas Health Committee recently that people who have the condition "act very much like patients who have experienced closed head injuries".
"The World Health Organisation has defined Long Covid as a condition that occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually three months from the onset of Covid-19 with symptoms that last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis.
"These effects appear to occur irrespective of the initial severity of the Covid infection, but occur more frequently in women, middle age, and in those with more symptoms initially."
Under pressure
Deputy Naughten says the HSE stated it planned to establish specialist Long Covid clinics. However, they have not materialised.
"The reality is that such a large number of Long Covid patients presenting to our health service with complex health conditions will overwhelm our hospitals as we begin to plan for a winter of hospital overcrowding. In addition, these services will be put under considerable pressure due to recurring waves of further Covid-19 illness.
"We cannot just sleepwalk into a crisis of chronic illness which will push people waiting on treatments since before the pandemic even further down already horrendous waiting lists. We need to see this surge of Long Covid patients managed with a co-ordinated response from Government, which based on responses that I have received previously, has not been forthcoming."
The Lancet described Long Covid as "the next public health disaster in the making," says the Roscommon/Galway TD.
"This clearly indicates that Government must now treat this illness and the patients with it as a matter of the utmost priority."
Meanwhile, Dr John Cullinan, a senior lecturer at NUI Galway's School of Business and Economics and the director of the Centre for Economic Research on Inclusivity and Sustainability, says Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME ) was routinely dismissed and misdiagnosed by medical professionals, and warns that the similarities between it and Long Covid could lead to a similar situation.
"While the onset of ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome can be due to a range of factors, it most often develops following a viral infection. In fact, the key symptoms of ME/CFS are consistent with those now being experienced by many patients suffering from Long Covid and Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States, has commented on the similarity between the two.
"This had led to concerns in many quarters that we may well experience an increase in the incidence of ME/CFS as a result of the Covid pandemic.
"Worryingly, it also seems that influential proponents of the flawed psychological model of ME/CFS are keen to argue that many cases of Long Covid are, like ME/CFS, 'all in the mind'."
A HSE-run research unit dedicated to Long Covid would be a very welcome development, he says. "In doing so, deficiencies in funding and services for ME/CFS patients should also be addressed as a priority because, sadly, our record in this area to date in Ireland has been shameful."
