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Scientists liken long Covid symptoms to those of Ebola survivors

Linda Geddes Experts also studying similarities with lasting effects of Chikungunya virus in hope of finding new treatments
Scientists are studying the similarities between long Covid and ongoing symptoms experienced by survivors of Ebola and Chikungunya virus in the hope of devising new treatments to improve their health.
Like patients with long Covid, survivors of these other, relatively new human viruses, often experience lingering symptoms which can make it difficult to work or function in everyday life.
For Ebola, roughly three-quarters of survivors are still experiencing symptoms a year after the initial infection, and sometimes for much longer – including joint and muscle pain, migraine-like headaches, visual problems and fatigue.
It’s a similar story for Chikungunya, a mosquito-transmitted virus that mostly affects people in African and Asian countries, causing fever and debilitating joint pain. Around a third of people go on to develop crippling arthritis that can last years, or other symptoms such as fatigue.
“It’s the same kind of discussions as we’re having for Covid; it’s people whose lives have never been the same again, who describe joint pain and fatigue and cognitive problems and all those familiar lists,” said Danny Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London.
“The experience of Chikungunya and Ebola should be sounding alarm bells, because although we’re talking about very different virus families, and very diverse infections, they seem to do quite similar things. There’s a desperate need for some immunology to understand what’s going on,” he said.
Some of those studies are starting to happen. Yves Lévy at Paris-Est Créteil University and colleagues have been analysing the blood of Ebola survivors in Guinea, two years after they were infected with the virus, which causes a severe and often fatal haemorrhagic fever.
Lévy said: “Usually, when you are fighting an infection there is inflammation and activation of the immune system, but this returns to a steady state once you recover. What we’re showing with Ebola is that the patients are recovering and the virus is gone, but they still have this persistent inflammation and immune activation.”
Whether this is the cause of their lasting symptoms is unclear, but other studies have shown a link between some of the inflammatory markers they identified and fatigue, said Miles Carroll, head of research at Public Health England’s national infection service, who is also studying Ebola survivors. “Just understanding that there is this link between prior infection and a chronic syndrome is a good start,” he added.
The cause of this inflammation is unclear. One possibility, is that small reservoirs of virus are surviving in places like the testicles or the eyeball, which immune system has less access to, but which nevertheless triggers a baseline level of immune activation. Another is that the virus is gone, but some of its proteins remain attached to the survivors’ cells, so the immune system attacks these instead. Or, that it just takes the immune system a long time to recover after Ebola. “We need to follow these patients in the long term, because, when they say they have symptoms, it is clearly not just a psychological issue,” Lévy said.
His team is currently performing the same analysis on the blood of patients who have recovered from Covid-19: “It’s not impossible that these Covid patients retain some inflammatory markers in the long term, as we see in Ebola.”
Similar studies are being done in people who’ve recovered from Chikungunya virus, including by Lisa Ng, senior principal investigator at the Singapore Immunology Network. She stresses that Chikungunya is very different to Covid-19; although debilitating, it rarely causes severe disease or respiratory syndromes. However, “some parallels could be fatigue, weakness and sense of tiredness, like many post-viral outcomes. These could be due to the lingering effects of the virus as the body continues to clear it out. It is like a tug-of-war between the patient and the virus.”
Although the exact mechanisms underpinning these lingering symptoms have yet to be fully defined, one clue comes from T helper cells – a set of immune cells which play a major role in instigating and shaping the immune response to viruses. Ng’s studies suggest they may be contributing to ongoing inflammation in the joints of people who’ve recovered from Chikungunya.
Such insights could lead to potential treatments, such as the repurposing of existing anti-inflammatory drugs, or the development of new immunotherapies for such post-viral syndromes.
Whether similar immune responses underpin long Covid is still unclear, but there is already some evidence that “friendly fire” from the immune system may be implicated in some cases.
But if there’s another lesson to be learned from Chikungunya, it is that these patients with lasting symptoms can’t simply be ignored. “Chikungunya is destroying the Brazilian health service, and it’s not so much because of the acute infection, but because of these lasting health problems,” said Altmann.
“I’m not sure our policymakers have this on board when they think about long Covid – that we may not just be talking about getting through this winter or this spring, but perhaps 300,000 people in the UK and rising, who have a chronic problem.”
source: Linda Geddes
Levant
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BENEFIT AGM approves 10%...
- March 27, 2025
BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).
Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.
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