VOA健康报道2022--Studies Aim to Find Long COVID Treatments

Studies Aim to Find Long COVID Treatments

Lauren Nichols has been suffering from bad health effects since her COVID-19 infection in the spring of 2020.

The 34-year-old worker for the U.S. Department of Transportation in Boston has had problems with thinking and attention. She has also suffered from tiredness, seizures², headaches and pain.

Last June, Nichols' doctor suggested she take small amounts of naltrexone, a drug often used to treat alcohol and opioid addiction³. The result, she said, was that after more than two years of living in "a thick... cloud...I can actually think clearly."

Researchers chase long COVID treatments

Researchers are studying treatments for the long-lasting effects of COVID infections, known as long COVID. They are excited to learn if naltrexone can offer similar helpful effects to millions of people suffering from health problems months after a coronavirus infection.

Reuters studied information from Clinicaltrials.gov and spoke⁴ to 12 health researchers about long COVID. The news agency found that there are at least four special studies known as clinical trials that plan to test naltrexone in hundreds of patients with long COVID.

Naltrexone is also one of a few treatments to be tested in the U.S. National Institutes of Health's $1 billion RECOVER Initiative. Advisers⁶ to the effort say the aim is to learn more about causes of long COVID and to find treatments.

Unlike treatments aimed at symptoms caused by COVID damage to organs, such as the lungs, low-dose naltrexone (LDN) may reverse some of the problems that are creating symptoms, they said.

What is naltrexone?

Naltrexone has anti-inflammatory properties and has been used in low doses for years to treat conditions such as fibromyalgia, Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis, said Dr. Jarred Younger of the Neuro-inflammation, Pain and Fatigue⁷ Laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

At 50 milligrams - 10 times the low dose - naltrexone is approved to treat opioid and alcohol addiction.

Several drug manufacturers sell 50mg pills, but low-dose naltrexone must be purchased through a special drug store.

Younger wrote a scientific study of the drug as an anti-inflammatory. In September, he put in a grant application to study LDN for long COVID. "It should be at the top of everyone's list for clinical trials," he said.

Much to be learned

Still, the drug is unlikely to help all patients with long COVID. The condition includes about 200 symptoms including pain and heart issues, sleep problems, and thinking problems.

Dr. Jack⁸ Lambert is an infectious disease expert at University College Dublin School of Medicine. He advised the use of LDN to other doctors treating patients who were suffering from symptoms after COVID.

It worked so well that he ran a study among 38 long COVID patients. They reported improvements in energy, pain, concentration, sleep, and overall recovery from COVID-19 after two months, findings published in July said.

Lambert is planning a larger study to confirm those results. He said LDN might repair damage caused by the disease rather than hide its symptoms.

Other planned LDN trials include one by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and a study by AgelessRx, a new company based in Ann Arbor⁹, Michigan. That study of 36 volunteers should have results by the end of this year, said company co-founder Sajad Zalzala.

Scientists are still working to explain exactly how LDN might work.

Reports say RECOVER officials are considering other possible treatments for long COVID. These include antiviral drugs, such as Pfizer's Paxlovid, blood-thinning drugs, steroids and nutritional¹⁰ supplements.

RECOVER officials said they have received many proposals but could not comment on which drugs will be tested until trials are finalized¹¹.

Nichols, a patient adviser⁵ to RECOVER, was very happy when she learned LDN was being considered for the government-supported studies.

While LDN has not cured all of her COVID-related problems, Nichols can now work all day without breaks and have a social life at home.

"It has made me feel like a human again," she said.

Words in This Story

seizure¹ – n. (medical) an state in which you become unconscious and your body moves in an uncontrolled and violent way

opioid – n. a compound that is like opium¹² in terms of its addictive¹³ properties or effects on the body

anti-inflammatory – adj. (medical) used to control or reduce inflammation

dose –n. the amount of a medicine needed to give a good effect

grant – n. an amount of money that is given to someone by a government or a company to be used for a particular purpose

application – n. a formal and usually written request for something (such as a job, admission to a school, or a loan)

symptom –n. a sign that a disease or infection is present

concentration – n. the ability to give your attention or thought to a single object or activity : the ability to concentrate

steroid –n. a chemical that can be produced by the body that signals several body processes

1 seizure   

n.没收；占有；抵押

参考例句：

• The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
• The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。

2 seizures   

n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物

参考例句：

• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year. 今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Other causes of unconsciousness predisposing to aspiration lung abscess are convulsive seizures. 造成吸入性肺脓肿昏迷的其他原因，有惊厥发作。 来自辞典例句

3 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

7 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

10 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

11 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

13 addictive   

adj.(吸毒等)使成瘾的，成为习惯的

参考例句：

• The problem with video game is that they're addictive.电子游戏机的问题在于它们会使人上瘾。
• Cigarettes are highly addictive.香烟很容易使人上瘾。