新冠肺炎痊愈后会出现疲劳感？科学家正在调查中

在新冠肺炎的各种症状逐渐浮出水面的同时，科学家也发现，一些新冠病毒感染者在痊愈后，身体并没有回到之前的状态，而是出现了长期的疲劳感等症状，这些症状可能会持续数周甚至数月。

Photo by Zohre Nemati on Unsplash

Most people experience Covid-19 as a short-term illness: once the infection has been fought off, they bounce back to health. But evidence is emerging of a significant minority – sometimes referred to as “long haulers” – who struggle with long-term symptoms for a month or longer.

大多数感染新冠病毒的人都是经历了一场小病：一旦病毒被击退，他们很快就恢复了健康。然而新的证据显示，少部分人——有时被称为“打持久战的人”——会出现长期的症状，可能持续一个月，也可能更长。

Anecdotal reports have abounded of people left with fatigue, aching muscles and difficulty concentrating. Online support groups on Facebook and Slack have sprung up, already hosting thousands of members who say they have not got better.

有零星报告讲述了许多痊愈后感到乏力、肌肉酸痛和难以集中注意力的人。脸书和Slack上兴起了在线支持小组，已经有数千名没有好转的人加入。

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Matt Hancock said it was difficult to gauge the scale of the problem. “This is a really serious problem for a minority of people who have Covid,” the health secretary said. “Some people have long-term effects that look like a post-viral fatigue syndrome.”

英国卫生大臣马特·汉考克周日 Scientists are only just beginning to investigate the potential causes of enduring fatigue, but say that there are likely to be a wide variety of reasons why some people face a longer road to recovery.

科学家才刚开始调查持续性疲劳感的潜在原因，不过他们表示，有些人康复期更长可能有各种各样的原因。

"Fatigue itself will take on lots of different guises,” said Chris Brightling, a professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Leicester, who is leading a newly announced £8.4m study of the long-term health impacts of Covid-19.

莱斯特大学呼吸医学教授克里斯·布莱特灵说：“疲劳会以多种不同假象出现。”英国新公布了一个研究新冠病毒对健康长期影响的项目，布莱特灵是这项耗资840万英镑 A report published in February by the World Health Organization, based on preliminary data, suggested that in mild cases the median recovery time from Covid-19 is roughly two weeks from the onset of symptoms, and in severe or critical cases about three to six weeks. However, some of those who appear to have only mild illness initially also end up wrestling with symptoms, including fatigue, that linger for weeks or months.

世界卫生组织二月份发布的一份基于初步数据的报告显示，新冠肺炎轻症患者的中位康复时间为出现症状后两周左右，重症患者的康复时间约为3到6周。但是，有些最初症状看似轻微的患者最后却出现了持续数周或数月的症状，包括疲劳乏力。

Those who have suffered severe illness in the acute phase, including admission to intensive care, typically experience muscle loss, which can result in direct physical fatigue. Others are left with lung damage, including scarring that can cause breathlessness, leaving people feeling tired. There are other physical effects that are less clearly understood – the disease is known to cause blood clots in the lungs and other parts of the body – and neurological symptoms ranging from stroke to mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.

那些在急性期发展成重症的患者，包括进入重症监护室的人，通常会经历肌肉流失，而这将直接导致身体疲劳。其他人则受到了肺部损伤，包括导致喘不上气的创伤，这也会让人感觉疲劳。还有其他了解的没有那么清楚的身体影响——目前已知新冠肺炎会导致肺部和身体其他部位出现血栓——还有中风、焦虑和抑郁等情绪紊乱的神经症状。

"How common each of those things are, we simply don’t have good information,” said Brightling.

布莱特灵说：“这些症状有多普遍，我们还没有掌握充分的信息。”

There is previous evidence linking Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) to infectious outbreaks, including Epstein-Barr virus and Q fever. A study of people infected during the 2003 Sars outbreak revealed that almost a third had a reduced tolerance to exercise many months later, despite having normal lung function.

先前的证据曾将慢性疲劳综合征和人类疱疹病毒第四型和Q热等传染病暴发联系在一起。一项对2003年非典感染者的研究揭示，近三分之一的人在肺功能恢复正常数月后，对锻炼的承受力降低了。

Brightling’s study will track around 10,000 patients who were admitted to hospital with Covid-19. This will allow scientists to assess what proportion of patients end up with which long-term health impacts, and what the risk factors are for different symptoms. This could help pave the way to better treatments and medical support for those who are left struggling months after initially becoming ill.

布莱特灵的研究将追踪因新冠肺炎而入院的1万名患者。这将让科学家可以评估留下长期后遗症的患者占据多大比例，以及不同症状的风险因素。这将有助于为那些染病后症状持续数月的患者提供更好的治疗和医疗支持扫清障碍。

Figuring out how Covid-19 triggers fatigue symptoms could also offer new insights into some of the ways that chronic fatigue can occur more generally. “One of the big challenges is that there’s so much that we don’t yet understand,” said Brightling. “People who specialise in fatigue are seeing people with multiple reasons why they’ve ended up at that point.”

查明新冠病毒如何引发疲劳症状也可以为长期疲劳普遍发作的一些方式提供新见解。布莱特灵说：“一个较大的挑战是我们还不理解的东西太多了。专门研究疲劳症状的人对于患者为何会感到疲劳能给出多种原因。”

In this case, he said, because the trigger for fatigue is known, there is a better chance of understanding what is happening in the body. “It gives you a way of trying to unravel that puzzle,” said Brightling.

布莱特灵指出，在这种情况下，由于了解了疲劳的诱因，就能够更好地理解身体里在发生什么。他表示：“这为你提供了解开谜团的一种办法。”