Low iron levels have been pinpointed as the cause of long Covid.
Scientists have found that low iron contributes to long Covid
Millions of people have experienced symptoms such as fatigue and shortness of breath long after an initial coronavirus infection and experts are convinced that low iron levels in the blood could be a key contributory factor to persistent health issues.
A team at Cambridge University analysed 214 people, around half of whom reported long Covid symptoms in the months following their infection and found that inflammation and low iron levels in the blood could be detected as early as two weeks following an infection in those who reported long Covid later on.
Dr. Aimee Hanson, who worked on the study during her time at Cambridge, said: "Iron levels, and the way the body regulates iron, were disrupted early on during SARS-CoV-2 infection, and took a very long time to recover, particularly in those people who went on to report long Covid months later.
"Although we saw evidence that the body was trying to rectify low iron availability and the resulting anaemia by producing more red blood cells, it was not doing a particularly good job of it in the face of ongoing inflammation."