Discover what the latest science from the RECOVER Initiative means for our ability to understand, diagnose, prevent, and treat Long COVID.
This page contains descriptions of findings from RECOVER research studies. These descriptions use plain language and a format that is easy to understand.
If you want to learn more about the scientific discoveries described here, you can also browse and search the complete list of RECOVER Publications.
RECOVER researchers studied how COVID affects people over time. They wanted to know if parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19), called antigens, stay in people's blood long after a COVID infection. They also wanted to see if these antigens are linked to Long COVID. Long COVID is when a person has 1 or more symptoms that last for at least 3 months after getting COVID. First, the researchers took blood samples from adults who had COVID. These samples were taken a few days after getting sick and up to 14 months later. Then, they looked for 3 types of antigens that are usually in the blood after having COVID: the S1 subunit of the spike protein, the nucleocapsid protein, and the full-length spike protein. The full-length spike protein was the most common antigen found in adults who had COVID, especially in those who had blood taken between 4 and 7 months after getting COVID.
The study also looked at 34 common Long COVID symptoms, like trouble breathing, muscle pain, and brain fog. Many participants said that they had at least 1 Long COVID symptom for 1 month or more after getting sick. In the group with the most common kinds of symptoms, 2 out of 5 people had antigens in their blood. In the group without symptoms, about 1 out of 5 people had antigens in their blood. This study shows that the 3 antigens researchers found might be linked to Long COVID. People with symptoms were twice as likely to have these antigens in their blood for a long time. The results also show that parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus can stay in the blood for up to 14 months after an infection. This is true for people who have long-term symptoms. But, it is also true in some people who do not have long-term symptoms.
