The NIH has yet to get tissue or blood samples from the British patient, and its investigation is “in the planning stages,” Nath said. The last thing you want to do is hurt healthy people.” “So many factors go into these decisions,” Nath said. “We would like to see how we can help, but the lack of information makes it difficult to do so.”Īny decision about whether to continue the trial is complex because it’s difficult to assess the cause of a rare injury that occurs during a vaccine trial - and because scientists and authorities have to weigh the risk of uncommon side effects against a vaccine that might curb the pandemic. Britain’s regulatory body, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, reviewed the case and has allowed the trial to resume in the United Kingdom.ĪstraZeneca “need to be more forthcoming with a potential complication of a vaccine which will eventually be given to millions of people,” said Nath. Transverse myelitis produces a set of symptoms involving inflammation along the spinal cord that can cause pain, muscle weakness and paralysis. AstraZeneca, which is running the global trial of the vaccine it produced with Oxford University, said the trial volunteer recovered from a severe inflammation of the spinal cord and is no longer hospitalized.ĪstraZeneca has not confirmed that the patient was afflicted with transverse myelitis, but Nath and another neurologist said they understood this to be the case. “Everyone’s hopes are on a vaccine, and if you have a major complication the whole thing could get derailed.”Ī great deal of uncertainty remains about what happened to the unnamed patient, to the frustration of those avidly following the progress of vaccine testing. Avindra Nath, intramural clinical director and a leader of viral research at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, an NIH division. “The highest levels of NIH are very concerned,” said Dr. Monday, Septem(Kaiser News) - The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to follow British regulators in resuming a coronavirus vaccine trial that was halted when a participant suffered spinal cord damage, even as the National Institutes of Health has launched an investigation of the case. Michaelene Carlton is also available for media interviews to discuss her experience with the illness.By Arthur Allen and Liz Szabo, Kaiser Health News She was later diagnosed with POTS, a disorder she wasn’t aware existed, prior to her diagnosis.Ĭhung is available for media interviews on post-COVID POTS. Carlton says she started experiencing an increased heart rate when she stood, in addition to dizziness and fatigue, after she had recovered from COVID-19. Michaelene Carlton - who sees Chung in the POTS Program - was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March. ![]() ![]() Since the pandemic began last March, physicians are just now beginning to see patients with post-COVID POTS. Chung suspects that COVID-19 may be associated with chronic inflammation in the autonomic nervous system, causing POTS.īefore POTS can be diagnosed, patients usually have symptoms for six months. Many POTS symptoms are thought to be related to inadequate control of blood flow, causing brain fog and dizziness. He explains that the autonomic nervous system is responsible for involuntary control of many of our body functions, such as sweating, pupil movement, bowel movement and blood flow. While experts are still researching the long-term side effects of COVID-19, it is clear to experts that some survivors are experiencing the classic signs of POTS as a result of their COVID-19 diagnosis.Ĭhung says POTS is related to autonomic nerve dysfunction. Some patients may, at first, believe their symptoms are “all in their head,” but Tae Chung, M.D., assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Johns Hopkins POTS Program, says “POTS is very real.”
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