Scientists see risk of lost opportunity for long COVID research in China
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[December 14, 2023]
By Andrew Silver
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - With more than a full year past since China eased
restrictions and let COVID-19 sweep its households, scientists are
worried a unique opportunity may be slipping away to study long COVID
from possibly hundreds of millions of infections in that country.
Global disease experts say little is known about China's experience with
long-term COVID effects, which in Britain, Canada, the U.S. and
elsewhere are thought to have afflicted millions with debilitating
fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms that persist for months or even
years.
China's rare circumstances - relying on home-grown vaccines and mostly
avoiding COVID until late in the pandemic - could, these experts say,
provide particularly valuable data and insights on long COVID.
But national agencies' funding plans and comments from scientists and
policy experts in China suggest that interest in public health-related
COVID studies may be waning in the country's research community, like it
has elsewhere, as memories fade of stay-at-home orders and close contact
tracing.
"The majority of COVID cases in China emerged less than a year ago,"
Martin Taylor, the World Health Organization's China representative,
said in an emailed reply to queries.
Chinese research might, he said, offer a different view from other
countries and help to shed light on the causes, prevalence and risk
factors of long COVID, which are still not clearly understood.
"Given that situation, WHO encourages more research in China."
But academics point to signs China may be deprioritizing or even backing
away from public health-related COVID research, including at government
agencies that offer grants and academic journals that publish research
studies.
"I haven't heard much at all about long COVID, or research on long COVID,
despite a wave last winter in which a very large fraction of the
population were infected for the first time," said Ben Cowling, an
epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong.
"I'm quite surprised about that, but I am aware that it could be a
sensitive topic ... I think the country wants to put COVID behind it."
LONG COVID STUDIES
In one research program's call for proposals, the National Office for
Philosophy and Social Sciences did not include pandemic-related topics,
although it had in the past, while the National Natural Science
Foundation of China has cut projections for the number of projects to be
funded under one COVID research program, according to documents posted
on their websites.
Some researchers noted, however, that funding might be available
elsewhere, and indeed the Natural Science Foundation this year offered
special grants for research on anti-COVID drugs and COVID-related basic
science.
The two agencies did not reply to requests for comment.
Chinese researchers have also published a number of recent studies on
long COVID, with more expected.
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A woman presents her health code to a pandemic prevention worker in
a protective suit to enter a residential compound as coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Beijing, December 4, 2022.
REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File photo
A study published in November found
that half of a set of COVID-19 patients discharged from a Wuhan
hospital in early 2020 still had symptoms - mostly mild - three
years later. Another study in Beijing published in October found
that 28.7% of a group of infected healthcare workers and 39.2% of a
group of infected residents still had COVID symptoms five months
after they were infected.
But several academics and doctors in China said a variety of
concerns have made the research community increasingly wary about
long COVID, including sensitivities around bio-data security and
policymakers' eagerness to put the pandemic behind them.
"Although the government's investment is continuing ... the interest
of the country's researchers seems to be falling," said Tan Hao, an
academic at Hunan University's Emergency Science Research Center. He
has urged creating a platform for long COVID where patients could
receive guidance and support.
China's National Health Commission said in a faxed reply to queries
that the country supported scientific researchers looking at the
coronavirus.
Regarding long COVID, it said Chinese and international research so
far suggested the rate of occurrence is low, organ damage is fairly
rare, and symptoms gradually improve with the passage of time.
Other relevant agencies and ministries contacted for comment,
including the Ministry of Science and Technology and China's State
Council, referred Reuters to China's National Health Commission or
did not respond.
Many countries have played down the significance of long COVID, or
even failed to acknowledge it as a condition, but China's large
population and unique circumstances give it a particularly essential
role to play in long COVID research, according to several scientists
and researchers.
"There is a huge opportunity for Chinese scientists to contribute
and help us solve this complex puzzle," said Ziyad Al-Aly, a senior
clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis,
Missouri. He pointed to possible lessons from China's public health
response and the potential for optimizing future vaccine strategies.
"I hope they do not sit this one out," he said.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver and Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Michele
Gershberg, Miyoung Kim and Edmund Klamann)
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