Article from The Sick Times. Headline: “Long COVID is significantly underreported across the globe.” Written by Jamie Ducharme, April 14, 2026. Subheading: “Researchers and advocates are trying to change that.” Image shows a woman wearing glasses and a face mask, with a patterned headscarf. Background features abstract artwork with virus-like shapes and grid patterns. Caption credit: Miles Griffis / The Sick Times (image source: Pexels).

Long COVID is significantly underreported across the globe.

Long COVID has affected over 400 million people globally as of 2024, but it’s likely underreported—especially in low- and middle-income countries where data and access to care are limited.

Source: archive.md/26rjh

In Pursuit of Understanding the Crash What Post-Exertional Physiology Tells Us About ME/CFS

"In Pursuit of Understanding the Crash"
After your bout with Covid, does it seem like you're losing ground? Losing more and more energy and never waking up refreshed? Lots of "horizontal time"?? Todd explains this well and MANY other symptoms go with this one.
open.substack.com/pub/likeanno...

Making sense of ME/CFS 1 Psychologizing kids with asthma, in the past and today Attributing physical illness to a neurotic personality isn't new. K. Johnstone Apr 18, 2026 When we struggle to make sense of how physical illness is dismissed and psychologized, it helps to remember that this problem isn’t new. Physical illness was also minimized and psychologized in the past, in ways that can seem ridiculous to us now. Looking to the past can help us get some perspective on our current struggles.

"Psychologizing kids with asthma, in the past and today: Attributing physical illness to a neurotic personality isn't new." by K. Johnstone @kjohnstone.bsky.social (Apr 18, 2026)

mecfs.substack.com/p/psychologi...

#chronicillness #invisibleillness

Expert perspectives on Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome – Insights from the 3rd International Conference of the Charité Fatigue Center Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex, multisystemic disorder mostly triggered by viral infections, with core sympt…

Die International #MECFS Conference 2026 der @mecfsresearch.bsky.social steht an - hier ist ein gerade veröffentlichter Rückblick auf die Ausgabe 2025:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The Human Cost of Failing to Name COVID ‘Airborne’ | The Tyee Safety laws are being sidestepped. One doctor’s nightmare shows how health-care workers pay the price.

"Human Cost of Failing to Name #COVID #Airborne" ... #Healthcare workers, teachers, and many others "pay the price" #LongCOVID #PASC #PCS #MECFS
@thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

Thank you for writing this, Nick! It hits all the relevant points in a non-ambiguous way. 👏👏👏

My maddening battle with chronic fatigue syndrome: ‘On my worst days, it feels almost demonic’ The long read: I suffered with my mystery illness for decades before gaining a diagnosis. Could retraining my brain be the answer?

'a professional’s belief that the truth resided in the numbers on paper, not in the manifestly sick person before their eyes, seemed to me the same kind of literalism that causes people to drive their cars into bodies of water because the satnav told them to.'

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

„Mit so etwas bist du bei jedem falsch“: Mutter von 14-jährigem Kind mit ME/CFS kämpft mit Behörden Die Erkrankung der 14-jährigen Alissa blieb lange unentdeckt. Das brachte der Familie viel Ärger ein. Das Münchhausen-Syndrom Stand im Raum.

Alle ähnlich gelagerten Geschichten, die ich kenne, sind deswegen eskaliert, weil die pure Möglichkeit, dass #MECFS vorliegen/überhaupt existieren könnte, negiert wurde.

Das ist absolut kontraproduktiv und gelinde gesagt skandalös.

www.sn.at/salzburg/chr...

Ventilation 💨

"You wouldn't build a public building without fire prevention. You wouldn't make people eat contaminated food, and yet this concept of clean, fresh, uncontaminated air has just bypassed everybody."

"There could have been HEPA filters put in"

5/

Sadly, as a former healthcare worker veteran with 42 years I'd have to say "Yes" there IS a bias towards NOT acknowledging #LongCOVID 's existence primarily in Healthcare administration, insurance, research, and (lately) funding.

International Long Covid Awareness Month 2026 - Canadian Covid Society International Long Covid Awareness Month March 2026 Join us to raise awareness and show support for the Long Covid community this March. Schedule of Events This March, we are taking a spec...

Check out our full lineup of Long Covid Awareness Month activities and learn more about Long Covid at covidsociety.ca/priorities/l...

#LongCovid #ILCAD2026 #LongCovidAwareness
2/2

I hope this message makes it to more pregnant people. Your placenta is a big ol’ vascular organ and if you looked at images of Covid-impacted placentas you would mask up *at least* in pregnancy.

Small thumbsize images of the more than 150 "I mask" [because] images created by Scott Squires. These are free to use. Link to OP: https://x.com/scott_squires/status/1823832566912409779?t=-5S7CXN8NwwARbm4y0yjVA&s=09

Great set of FREE #CovidAwareness images created by @Scott_Squires (on X):

"A few of the 170 'I Mask' series. (I still have to correct typos on a handful ). Please share, post, print out, post on walls, etc"

Link to his Google Drive folder:
drive.google.com/drive/folder...

#CovidInformed #Images

onelife_livedwell - so much of healthcare still relies on the patient's ability to advocate, organize, and persist. But fatigue, brain fog, and systemic barriers mean those most in need often can't. Access shouldn't depend on who has the energy to fight for it.

US Against Alzheimers' Brain Health Academy is back with a new series designed for clinicians and health leaders who want to stay at the forefront of brain health and dementia prevention. www.usagainstalzheimers.org/brain-health...

‘Most People with Long COVID Are Their Own Doctors’: Self-Tracking and Online Patient Groups as Pathways to Challenging Epistemic Injustice — Sazana Jayadeva and Deborah Lupton "Epistemic justice for people with Long COVID and other contested illnesses will never be fully achieved until the medical profession can develop greater epistemic humility and takes steps to redress testimonial and hermeneutical injustice."

‘Most People with Long COVID Are Their Own Doctors’: Self-Tracking and Online Patient Groups as Pathways to Challenging Epistemic Injustice by @sazanajayadeva.bsky.social ‪& @dalupton.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Screenshot from Science for ME weekly update

#LongCovid #PASC

Skeletons in yoga poses on a lawn of a house

#chronicillness

🚨 New National Guidelines Alert!
Our very own Dr. Dimitri Drekonja together with colleagues just authored the IDSA guidelines for urinary tract infections.

ID expertise from the University of Minnesota helping shape clinical care nationwide. 💪💊 #IDSky #UMNproud #UTI #MedSky #InfectiousDiseases

A harmful algal bloom, fueled by a marine heat wave, has been choking South Australia's coastline, turning once-colorful ecosystems filled with thriving marine life into underwater graveyards.

Read more: cnn.it/3H9z0wu

Star letter Using language to describe ME I think Helen explained severe ME very well with the description “Severe ME is like dragging around a dead body and I’m both the dead body and the person dragging it around” (Interaction 117, p 21). I often use the phrase “dragging myself round like a corpse” when asked how I’m doing. I also use the analogy, “Someone turned up the gravity!” I like to stay positive and not feel like I’m moaning all the time, so I find dark humour and descriptive language (and swear words!) very useful to describe how I’m feeling without seeming too negative. I also find it useful to have shorthand to use with close friends and family to communicate easily which state I’m currently in. For example, “struggling” means I’m able to get out of bed, but even the slightest activity is incredibly difficult, and “wrecked” roughly translates as “Don’t expect me to be able to move much or string together a coherent sentence.” They also understand that when I say I’m “good”, “okay” or “not bad” I mean it in a purely comparative sense! Nikki Pope Age 46, ME for over 30 years

"Using language to describe ME"

From the Winter 2024 InterAction magazine of Action for ME

#MEcfs #CFS #PwME

Screen shot of text: "Capitalism is an economic system founded on colonial looting. It operates on a constantly shifting and self-consuming frontier, on which both state and powerful private interests use their laws, backed by the threat of violence, to turn shared resources into exclusive property, and to transform natural wealth, labor, and money into commodities that can be accumulated." This is from the book Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison. It is offered as a definition of capitalism. IMHO this is very useful in a variety of ways, not the least of which that it distinguishes capitalism from commerce. Many seem to think that commerce is capitalism rather than a form of trading that precedes capitalism by thousands of years. By using their definition of capitalism as a lens through which to examine current govt. and industry actions around the world, a much clearer understanding can be gained. To pick a few, the current actions of the Trump led US government and the many policies the AoNZ govt has pushed through under urgency - including the new pay equity law.

I'm reading @georgemonbiot.bsky.social and and Peter Hutchison's Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism. They offer this definition of capitalism. See alt text for more.
I just finished The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow. NFTs are now gone...

What’s the real beef over sustainable cattle farming? | Letters Letters: Øistein Thorsen of FAI Farms, Aidan Harrison and Nelly Trevelyan of Yorkshire Organic Millers respond to an article by George Monbiot

So the meat industry has beef with @georgemonbiot.bsky.social, but the three responses here merely double down on bullshit.
1) The FAI farms guy attempts to dodge Monbiot's criticisms with vague obfuscation, providing no clarity in his explanation. 🧵
1/2
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A small bird with shimmering green, blue, and golden feathers, a dark head, and a slender black beak perched on a light brown branch against a softly blurred background.

I love these too much. I just can't help myself with photographing them.

Fiery-throated Hummingbird at Batsu Gardens, San Gerardo de Dota #CostaRica

#birds #hummingbirds #nature 🌿

The impact of the PEPFAR funding freeze on HIV deaths and infections: a mathematical modelling study of seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa The sudden cessation of PEPFAR funding likely results in tens of thousands of HIV deaths and new infections. These losses of life and health should compel the United States government to rapidly and f...

Projected deaths from cessation of USAID PEPFAR funding
www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl...
a 90-day freeze is expected to result in ~60,000 excess deaths

A stacked bar chart (oriented horizontally) labeled: Living with ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome) Each horizontal bar is a disease status: Pre-ME, Mild ME, Moderate ME, Severe ME, Very Severe ME. The width of each bar represents how much energy is available in each status (100, 50, 25, 12.5, and 6.25 respectively). Each bar is divided into sections for how one might allocate their energy: hygiene & nutrition (gray); caregiving, cleaning errands (red); work (orange); exercise (yellow); friends (green); hobbies (blue); fun (purple). With worsening ME, the hygiene & nutrition takes up a larger proportion of total available energy and the amount of energy available for all other parts of life shrinks. Mild ME has most things cut in half, with exercise cut smaller. Moderate ME removes exercise altogether, and everything else shrinks. Severe ME has only tiny slivers of red, orange, green, blue and purple. Very Severe ME has only a tiny sliver of green.

NIH recently found 1 in 22 ppl who’d had Covid developed ME/CFS. The “mild” form of that disease, as @julialmv.bsky.social’s graph shows, means losing capacity to do 50% of your daily activities.

What would you give up?

Friends? Time w/your kids? Could you cut work hours in half w/o losing yr job?

Screenshot from webinar showing image of Dr Margaret O’Hara at the top below which is a slide with a blue background with the Long Covid Kids and Long Covid Support logos in the top right. The slide is titled 08 Hidden Demand below which is a chart showing the hidden demand for Long Covid Services in Derbyshire Primary Care Network. Text on the right reads Hidden demand far outstrips visible demand Referrals are NOT a good metric for demand.

At our webinar on our #LongCovid Clinics report with @longcovidkids.bsky.social, our Trustee @margaretohara.bsky.social talked about hidden demand for Long Covid care:

“Hidden demand far outstrips visible demand. Referrals are NOT a good metric for demand.”

Link to report below.

#ClosingClinics

Pedro Pascal matched to ME/LongCovid research infographic The future is a policy choice: Addressing Infection-Associated Chronic Conditions Crunch ME, 2025 Medicine has long had a blind spot on Infection-Associated Chronic Conditions (IACC), which include: Long Covid, ME/CFS, POTS, MCAS, Fibromyalgia, & Chronic Lyme Disease. ME/CFS has a greater disease burden than MS & Parkinson's combined, while Long Covid disease burden is comparable to diabetes. Despite the high severity and disease burden, Long Covid & ME/CFS are deeply underfunded in proportion to their Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY).

#PedroPascalPapers
#LongCovidAwarenessDay
@crunchme.bsky.social

Pedro Pascal matched to ME/LongCovid research infographic Long Covid Now Looks Like a Neurological Disease Scientific American, 2023 Covid protein found in neurons & astrocytes up to 3 months after initial infection in those with neuropsychiatric symptoms. Autopsies have found Covid RNA in the brain up to 8 months after infection. Those with cognitive problems have immune-related abnormalities in their cerebrospinal fluid & higher amounts of immune cells in the brain that should not be there, causing inflammation. "(Long Covid) is not a psychological or psychosomatic disorder; this is a neuroimmune disorder"

Pedro Pascal matched to ME/LongCovid research infographic Current update on the neurological manifestations of long COVID PubMedID: 39850323, 2024 Neuroinflammation: elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines & autoantibodies →chronic inflammation in central & peripheral nervous systems. Latent virus reactivation exacerbates & viral reservoirs may perpetuate inflammation. Endothelial dysfunction damages blood brain barrier. Hypometabolism likely due to mitochondrial dysfunction & oxidative stress are found in high ACE2 areas such as brainstem, hippocampus, olfactory bulb. Autonomic dysfunction is possibly due to damage to the brainstem & vagus nerve. Genetic susceptibility

Pedro Pascal matched to ME/LongCovid research infographic Persistence of spike protein at the skull-meninges-brain axis may contribute to the neurological sequelae of COVID-19 Cell, 2024 The accumulation of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in the skull-meninges-brain axis of human COVID-19 patients was observed, persisting long after viral clearance. Biomarkers of neurodegeneration were elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid from long COVID patients. Proteomic analysis of human skull, meninges, and brain samples revealed dysregulated inflammatory pathways and neurodegeneration-associated changes.

Pedro Pascal matched to ME/LongCovid research infographic Microglia dysfunction, neurovascular inflammation & focal neuropathologies are linked to... systemic inflammation in COVID Nature Neuroscience, 2025 Microglial dysfunction, mitochondrial failure & cell death occurs at sites of Covid-associated vascular inflammation. These pathologies are found in several areas of the brain, but more severe in the medulla, where key autonomic centers are localized. Covid induced inflammation may lead to gliovascular failure in the brain, which could be a common contributor to COVID-19-related neuropathologies

#PedroPascalPapers
Pedro Pascal as Neurological Manifestations of #LongCovid #LongCovidAwarenessDay

Microglia dysfunction, neurovascular inflammation and focal neuropathologies are linked to IL-1- and IL-6-related systemic inflammation in COVID-19 - Nature Neuroscience The authors show that brain inflammation in COVID-19 correlates with viral load, systemic inflammation and virus-sensing pattern recognition receptors. Microglial dysfunction occurs at sites of vascular inflammation with myelin injury and synapse loss.

A study in Nature Neuroscience shows that brain inflammation in COVID-19 correlates with viral load, systemic inflammation and virus-sensing pattern recognition receptors. Microglial dysfunction occurs at sites of vascular inflammation with myelin injury and synapse loss. 🧪

#LongCovid syndrome in children: neutrophilic granulocyte dysfunction and its correlation with disease severity