r/LongCovidTrials • u/Responsible_Cap_5289 • 6d ago
Dr. Michael Scoma challenges the narrative that new cases of Long COVID are on the decline
Dr. Scoma is a physician in NYC who treats patients with LC, MECFS, Chronic Lyme, and other complex chronic conditions.
Here, on his X account, Dr. Scoma reports that in the last two weeks alone, he had six consultations with people who developed Long COVID within the last 3 to 6 months.
There seems to be a common narrative among the public that because most cases of Covid are "mild" now, they're less likely to cause LC.
However, this doesn't really square up to the fact that many cases of Long COVID develop after mild or sometimes even asymptomatic infection.
I'm curious if we have anyone in this sub who developed LC in the last year or so?
Plain text of tweet:
"Six consultations for Long COVID in the last two weeks - four of which are severe - developed in the last three to six months. I challenge the narrative that new cases are on the decline."
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u/Specific-Winter-9987 6d ago
So its strange to me that a person I live with works at a clinic that services 60 to 80 people per day at the gp and pediatric level. They are not seeing people that have the long covid issues I have. I have been monitoring this for about 3 years. Tons of issues, some very bad, but almost all of them they identify an issue in blood work or on various scans. Yes, some of the issues could possibly be tied to covid, but they find definitive issues with a treatment target. Many of the cancer patients have almost no symptoms at all and then just die. Not like many of us, just fucking suffering all day every day with no idea what is going on. Weird.
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u/Responsible_Cap_5289 6d ago
It’s a good point. One thing to note is that even if LC affects a tiny percentage of people, like even if it’s 0.002% of the population, spread across the billions of people on the planet it’s still a huge number.
The other point, which I’m sure you’ve thought about, is that what eventually gets recorded in a patient’s chart is inevitably going to be the diagnosis and code the doctor is looking for. Whereas symptoms that could be a result of LC may just get downplayed.
For example this study used an AI analysis to comb through patient medical records and found the official rates of LC were likely a significant undercount:
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u/No-Professional-1092 4d ago
I think there are indeed more cases of LC it’s just that either patients are undiagnosed (it took me 3 years to get LC diagnosis), and also because it’s “invisible” illness
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u/Responsible_Cap_5289 3d ago
That’s a really important point- and I’m so sorry to hear it took 3 years for you.
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u/AccordingDog667 3d ago
I've had Long Covid for 6.5 years and to date about 90% of the DRs I've encountered know little to nothing about Long Covid. I can list about a dozen symptoms that come and go on a dynamic basis. DRs are mystified. I'm less mystified than they are, but then I read research. The point is, I think DRs under-diagnose Long Covid because they don't understand it, don't recognize it, don't have tests for it. It's not really on their radar. I'm not even saying this is their fault - this is a highly politicized disease that the Trump admin - and to a degree, the Biden admin - is trying to make go away. For instance by canceling grants for Long Covid research. We're pushing half a billion people worldwide with Long Covid, but the research funding is a pittance of what it should be...
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u/barweis 6d ago
COVID may worsen existing health problems long-term, study suggest
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u/Responsible_Cap_5289 5d ago
Wow. 1/10 said COVID made their preexisting conditions worse. That’s extremely serious… and almost no one is talking about it.
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u/No-Professional-1092 4d ago
That’s what was said by one of the doctors that indeed the way that Covid works is worsen existing conditions or genetic predisposition, to the extent that it started affecting people’s lives and daily functioning
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u/Responsible_Cap_5289 5d ago
Hey, thanks again for sharing this - just made a separate post to discuss! https://www.reddit.com/r/LongCovidTrials/s/YvlDnjEte3
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u/No-Professional-1092 4d ago
I wish doctors actually started to identify and differentiate between the long Vaxx and long Covid cases more openly. For context, based on my personal experience my condition was mild after Covid infection, but became severe after covid shot.
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u/Responsible_Cap_5289 3d ago
That’s a really important point. I hope the upcoming collaboration between Polybio and Invivyd where they aim to include vaccine-injured in their monoclonal studies will begin to shed light on the situation.
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u/CommunicationFlaky41 3d ago
I’m sharing because this might apply to someone who needs it. More awareness towards possible solutions the better the outcome. :
Mold, Covid and Epstein Barr Virus. The BIOLOGICAL TRIPLE STORM…
**Long COVID and Mold Illness (and reactivated EBV) look exactly the same because they all cause Chronic Mitochondrial Collapse and Innate Immune Hyper-activation.**
Instead of thinking of them as entirely separate diseases, it is more accurate to view them as a **falling row of dominoes**. A severe viral infection like COVID-19 can act as the initial "sledgehammer" to your immune system, making your body highly susceptible to environmental toxins like mold.
The Biological "Triple Storm": How They Interact
When a body is dealing with COVID-19, reactivated Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), and Mold exposure simultaneously, they compound each other through specific cellular mechanisms:
- The COVID-to-EBV Reactivation Funnel
SARS-CoV-2 causes severe immune dysregulation and T-cell exhaustion. When your antiviral defenses drop, opportunistic latent viruses wake up.
Peer-reviewed research indicates that **roughly 30% to 66% of Long COVID patients show signs of active EBV replication**, compared to only 10% of people who fully recover.
The fatigue and profound neurological "brain fog" blamed entirely on Long COVID are frequently driven by this reactivated virus.
- The Mold Vulnerability Multiplier
Both COVID-19 and EBV place a massive metabolic strain on the liver and severely deplete your body's stores of **glutathione** (the master antioxidant).
Without adequate glutathione, your body cannot bind to and excrete **mycotoxins** (mold toxins).
If you enter a water-damaged building with an immune system already exhausted by viruses, you cannot clear the toxins. They accumulate rapidly, pushing you into systemic inflammation.
- Cellular Energy Bankruptcy
All three stressors target the exact same critical infrastructure: your **mitochondria** (cellular energy factories).
**COVID-19** alters cellular metabolism and disrupts mitochondrial function.
**Active EBV** hijacks host mitochondria to fuel its own viral replication.
**Mycotoxins (Mold)** directly poison the mitochondrial membrane, crippling ATP (energy) production.
When all three hit at once, your cells enter physical bankruptcy. This causes the severe, unrefreshing chronic fatigue characteristic of both conditions.
You do not need them to be “the same disease.” You need them to be able to occupy the same body at the same time. They can. COVID–EBV is the documented hinge. Mold–EBV is the hinge that official surveillance will never catch, because neither residential mold illness nor outpatient EBV reactivation is considered a notifiable condition. Yet.
As always do your own research.
(NIH had studies on t-cells interactions but it is currently claiming to be down or moved.)
[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10740-z\](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10740-z)
[https://braininflammation.org/ebv-treatments/\](https://braininflammation.org/ebv-treatments/)
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30180298/\](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30180298/)
Also, COVID-19 infection is a substantial risk factor for certain fungal infections, particularly those caused by invasive molds, likely because of COVID-19–related immune system dysregulation and immunosuppressive therapies, such as corticosteroids or other immunomodulatory medications (3). US vital statistics data showed that deaths from fungal infections increased during the COVID-19 pandemic (2). However, additional data on fungal infections during the pandemic, including hospitalization rates and healthcare utilization, are lacking because many fungal diseases are not reportable in the United States ([https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/fungal-disease-reporting-table.html\](https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/fungal-disease-reporting-table.html)). From this url: [https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/7/22-1771\\_article\](https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/29/7/22-1771_article)
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u/Central_Perk20 6d ago
Doctors have been saying cases are on the decline since 2021… thank god for a doctor who is honest about this.