COVID-19 Quietly Wakes Up Other Dormant Viruses Inside the…

COVID-19 Quietly Wakes Up Other Dormant Viruses Inside the Body, and It May Help Explain Long COVID Most people carry 8 to 12 chronic viruses in their body at any given time, generally dormant and harmless. A major new study published in Nature reveals that severe COVID-19 frequently reactivates several of these sleeping viruses, and that this reactivation is linked to worse outcomes, both during acute illness and in long COVID. The study: Researchers analysed 1,154 patients hospitalised for COVID-19 across 20 US hospitals, part of the IMPACC study, one of the largest COVID-19 immune studies conducted to date. Using detailed genetic sequencing of nasal swabs, blood cells, and in ventilated patients, airway samples, researchers tracked whether other viruses beyond SARS-CoV-2 were actively reactivating in these patients over a full year of follow up. Nearly half of patients showed viral reactivation: Researchers found significant reactivation of viruses from the Herpesviridae family, including Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex virus 1, along with viruses from the Anelloviridae family, a very common but poorly understood group of viruses. Each virus reactivated with a distinct timing pattern, EBV and Anelloviridae activated early after hospital admission, while CMV and HSV1 tended to reactivate later, around 3 weeks into hospitalisation. A clear link to disease severity: Reactivation of these viruses was significantly associa