What we now know about long Covid

Meanwhile, antibodies that normally attack foreign invaders have been shown to stick to the body’s own cells in long Covid. Autoantibodies are antibodies that mistakenly target and react with a person’s own tissues or organs. These could cause different symptoms depending on where they bind, explains Prof Chris Brightling, from the University of Leicester: “Those with muscle pain and weakness might have an autoimmune problem related to muscles, those with an affected heart rhythm might have autoantibodies to the heart tissue.”