COVID-19: Prognosis and Long-Term Sequelae, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Post-COVID-19 syndrome first gained widespread recognition among social support groups and later in scientific and medical communities. This illness is poorly understood as it affects COVID-19 survivors at all levels of disease severity, even younger adults, children, and those not hospitalized. The precise definition of long COVID may be lacking, but the most common symptoms reported in many studies are fatigue and dyspnoea that last for months after acute COVID-19. To those symptoms it will be possible to add cognitive and mental impairments, dry cough, chest and joint pains, palpitations, cardiac issues, myalgia, smell and taste dysfunctions, headache, and gastrointestinal issues. Presently, there is limited literature discussing the possible pathophysiology, risk factors, and treatments in long COVID, which the current review aims to address. In brief, long COVID may be driven by long-term tissue damage (e.g., of the lung, brain, and heart) and pathological inflammation. The principle etiological hypothesis could be due to viral persistence, immune dysregulation, and autoimmunity. The associated risk factors may include female sex, more than five early symptoms, early dyspnoea, prior psychiatric disorders, and specific biomarkers (e.g., D-dimer, CRP, and lymphocyte count); for these reasons, it could be desirable to deepen this topic with a Special Issue.

Dr. Antonio Voza
Dr. Andrea Fabbri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Viruses is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• COVID-19
• pneumonia
• SARS-CoV-2

• COVID-19: Prognosis and Long-Term Sequelae in Viruses (9 articles)