Press Releases | August 2, 2022

Systemic infection with compromised immunity deemed risks for persistent infections

A research team, comprised of Associate Professor Tomonari Sumi of the Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science at Okayama University and Associate Professor Kouji Harada of the Center for IT-based Education (CITE) at Toyohashi University of Technology, has developed a mathematical model of the immune response within infected hosts that considers systemic infection of a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), and demonstrated by conducting experimental computer simulations that persistent viral infections within hosts potentially cause long COVID or post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (Note 1). The research team has also revealed that the systemic nature of the infection is a factor that enables persistent infection within infected hosts.

Full text: Are persistent infections of novel coronavirus the cause of sequelae in infected hosts?
TUT website: Press release