By David Tuller, DrPH
In early January, Nature Communications published a Dutch study called “Muscle abnormalities worsen after post-exertional malaise in long COVID.” The study caused a buzz among patients, clinicians, and other researchers and generated extensive news coverage. Called. (I wrote a blog post about it here.) The investigators identified significant biological differences after an exercise challenge between long Covid patients with post-exertional malaise and matched healthy controls who had recovered from COVID-19. Earlier today, I spoke with Dr Rob Wüst, one of the main authors and an expert in muscle metabolism at Vrije [Free] University Amsterdam, about the implications of the findings, some questions raised on social media regarding deconditioning and normal post-exercise response, and related stuff. (I had more questions I would have liked to ask, but we had already gone past my standard 30-minute limit for interviews, and it was dinner-time in for Dr Wüst in Amsterdam.)