Long Covid Update

 

Investigating one of the possible causes of Long Covid, researchers at Mass General Brigham have applied an experimental blood test “1,000 times more sensitive than the standard laboratory tests” to blood samples from patients who had been infected with Covid, 80 per cent of whom had reported Long Covid symptoms according to a report in the Boston Globe.

The article noted that researchers were looking at persistent virus that remained hidden in the bodies of Covid patients even after their acute infections had passed.

Emphasizing that persistent virus is probably only one of the causes of Long Covid, the study’s senior author, Dr. David Walt, cited “a single molecule test called SIMOA,” also developed in his lab, which along with the blood test, was being applied to a National Institute of Health-funded study on the use of Paxlovid on patients who had tested positive for persistent virus.

Based on statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Globe noted that close to 18 million Americans suffer from Long Covid, defined as a “chronic condition often marked by a series of debilitating symptoms that can include extreme exhaustion, difficulty breathing, neurological problems, chronic pain, and brain fog.  . . . [and] more than 300 reported symptoms.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/10/15/metro/long-covid-symptoms-treatment-cause/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results

 

Long Covid Treatment

See this article 

Some Boston doctors are starting to unravel the mysteries of long COVID and find improved treatments

There’s still no cure, but some front-line clinicians are finding ways to help patients feel better.

By Adam Piore Globe Staff, Updated October 2, 2024.

 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/10/02/metro/long-covid-treatments-diagnosis-brigham-and-womens/?event=event12

 

 

 

 

 

Obsolete Jobs & Denial of Disability

 

Effective Saturday, June 22, 2024, the Social Security Administration took a baby step toward eliminating obsolete jobs in its disability determination.

Social Security has two disability programs, Supplemental Security Income Disability (which has an income and asset test) and Social Security Insurance Disability (which requires prior work under Social Security). 

If claimants satisfy income and assets or insured status tests, Social Security has a five-part sequential determination:

1.   There is a limit on what claimants can earn at the time they are applying for disability.

2.    Social Security must find that the claimants have a severe impairment or a combination of impairments, and, if so:

3.    Claimants are approved if their impairments “meet” or “equal” certain Social Security “listed impairments.”

4.    But if claimants do not “meet” or “equal” certain Social Security “listed impairments,” they are denied if they can work in their past jobs.*

5   But if claimants cannot work in their past jobs, claimants are denied if they can do other work which exists in significant numbers in the national economy.  But claimants are approved if they cannot do other work which exists in significant numbers in the national economy.

According to the Washington Post, Social Security can no longer cite some 114 occupations in the 1977 Dictionary of Occupational Titles (US Dept. of Labor) as jobs that “exist in significant numbers.”  So those obsolete jobs cannot be used to deny disability benefits.  Additionally, Social Security has identified 13 job titles that will require particular scrutiny before denial of benefits.

Social Security routinely uses “vocational experts” in its hearings, and those experts base their testimony in large part on the 1977 Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

The Post article noted that Social Security will still rely on 3127 unskilled job listings in the 1977 Dictionary of Occupational Titles, which has approximately 12,700 total listings, both unskilled and skilled.  Since 2012 and at a cost of $300 million, Social Security has been studying an updated system from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (US Dept. of Labor).

*See my posts regarding obsolete jobs at step 4, past work:

https://disabilitydisability.blogspot.com/2016/08/overturn-thomas-decision.html

https://disabilitydisability.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-grammatical-rule-of-last-antecedent.html

See https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/24/social-security-disability-benefits-jobs-list-outdated/

See Charles T. Hall blog: https://socsecnews.blogspot.com/

See Social Security: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/reference.nsf/links/06212024022159PM

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/reference.nsf/links/06212024021759PM

See my post:

https://disabilitydisability.blogspot.com/2023/01/another-way-benefits-are-denied.html

 

 

 

 

Long Covid & NIH Study on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

 

A new study on myalgic encephalitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) from the National Institutes of Health also looked at Long Covid whose conditions are considered “closely related,” the Washington Post reported recently.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/03/11/long-covid-treatment-research-hope/

The Post said that the research was “the most in-depth and multidisciplinary study of ME/CFS to date, involving more than 75 investigators across 15 NIH institutes and taking nearly eight years to complete.” The manuscript was published in Nature Communications.  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45107-3#Sec17

In summarizing the results, the newspaper noted:  “[t]he research provided clear evidence of physiological abnormalities in ME/CFS patients. . . . [r]esearchers found functional and not structural abnormalities. . . . [and] investigators discovered significant differences between men and women. . . . in immune cell populations and markers of inflammation.”

The Post said the study “support[s] the hypothesis that ME/CFS is due to persistent immune activation [or] ‘post-infectious syndromes’ . . . .”  The same characterization may apply to Long Covid and other conditions.

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RE: Social Security and SSI Disability, see SSR 14-1p: Titles II and XVI: Evaluating Cases Involving Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/rulings/di/01/SSR2014-01-di-01.html