Brain-targeted autoimmunity is strongly associated with Long COVID and its chronic fatigue syndrome as well as its affective symptoms

Ongoing neuro-psychiatric symptoms have been reported in a substantial percentage of coronavirus disease (COVID) survivors [1]. These symptoms encompass chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), depression, and anxiety persisting for up to 12 months post-recovery, commonly known as ‘‘Long COVID disease” [2–4]. Recent data reveal that globally, at least 65 million individuals suffer from Long COVID disease

In a recent previous article co-authored by some of the present’s study collaborators, it was observed that CFS and affective symp-toms due to Long COVID are predicted by elevated peak body tem-perature (PBT) and decreased oxygen saturation (SpO2) during the acute phase of illness [5]. Both PBT and lower SpO2 are indices of the severity of the immune-inflammatory response during acute infection [6]. In another article by some of this study’s authors, a validated latent vector could be extracted from the CFS, fibromyal-gia, depressive and anxiety symptoms due to acute and Long COVID and this latent construct was named the ‘‘physio-affective phenome” of acute COVID-19 [6] or Long COVID [5,7–9].

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