Dr. Gaylis quote about long hauler trial There
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There is an article today in the Miami Herald about covid's impact on the heart. They also quote Dr. Gaylis about the upcoming trial. You can see article at link, but I am posting everything about Dr. Gaylis.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/...86664.html
LONG HAULERS’ SYNDROME
Some patients exhibit symptoms months after they have tested negative for COVID-19. These so-called long haulers often complain of body and joint pain, persistent coughing, brain fog, fatigue as well as symptoms more commonly associated with heart problems such as chest pain, shortness of breath, and heart palpitations.
Long Haulers’ Syndrome can affect patients who have had mild symptoms as well as those who have been hospitalized with COVID-19.
Sometimes patients have come in six to nine months after their COVID-19 episode and they just aren’t getting better, said Dr. Norman Gaylis, an Aventura rheumatologist.
“We believe the body’s response to COVID isn’t going away,” said Gaylis. Although he’s not a cardiologist, he said he’s gotten involved with long haulers because he treats diseases related to the immune system — in this case the cytokine system.
Doctors say it appears cytokines, which defend the body against infection, are released in such high numbers that they damage the organs, including the heart.
“It’s really the body’s response to COVID, rather than COVID itself” that is affecting long haulers and is his focus, Gaylis said.
He said he works hand-in-hand with cardiologists and would refer a patient to a heart doctor if a patient had an arrhythmia, for example, while he concentrates on how to treat the overall inflammatory response.
Currently, he’s trying to recruit 20 patients who have had COVID but whose symptoms have persisted for more than two months afterward for an exploratory study of the experimental drug Vyrologix (leronlimab).
“We hope to have final FDA approvals for the study in the next couple of weeks and begin treating long haulers with the drug in March,” Gaylis said.
Three other sites across the country would also be involved in the study of the drug, a viral-entry inhibitor, for treatment of prolonged coronavirus.