Scientists see risk of lost opportunity for long COVID research in China

Cansino Biologics

14/12/2023 24:00

By Andrew Silver
       SHANGHAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - With more than a full year
past since China eased restrictions and let COVID-19 sweep its
households, scientists are worried a unique opportunity may be
slipping away to study long COVID from possibly hundreds of
millions of infections in that country.
    Global disease experts say little is known about China's
experience with long-term COVID effects, which in Britain,
Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere are thought to have afflicted
millions with debilitating fatigue, brain fog and other symptoms
that persist for months or even years.
    China's rare circumstances - relying on home-grown vaccines
and mostly avoiding COVID until late in the pandemic - could,
these experts say, provide particularly valuable data and
insights on long COVID.
    But national agencies' funding plans and comments from
scientists and policy experts in China suggest that interest in
public health-related COVID studies may be waning in the
country's research community, like it has elsewhere, as memories
fade of stay-at-home orders and close contact tracing.
    "The majority of COVID cases in China emerged less than a
year ago," Martin Taylor, the World Health Organization's China
representative, said in an emailed reply to queries.
        Chinese research might, he said, offer a different view
from other countries and help to shed light on the causes,
prevalence and risk factors of long COVID, which are still not
clearly understood.
    "Given that situation, WHO encourages more research in
China."
    But academics point to signs China may be deprioritising or
even backing away from public health-related COVID research,
including at government agencies that offer grants and academic
journals that publish research studies.
    "I haven't heard much at all about long COVID, or research
on long COVID, despite a wave last winter in which a very large
fraction of the population were infected for the first time,"
said Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong
Kong.
    "I'm quite surprised about that, but I am aware that it
could be a sensitive topic ... I think the country wants to put
COVID behind it."
    
    LONG COVID STUDIES
    In one research programme's call for proposals, the National
Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences did not include
pandemic-related topics, although it had in the past, while the
National Natural Science Foundation of China has cut projections
for the number of projects to be funded under one COVID research
programme, according to documents posted on their websites.
    Some researchers noted, however, that funding might be
available elsewhere, and indeed the Natural Science Foundation
this year offered special grants for research on anti-COVID
drugs and COVID-related basic science.
    The two agencies did not reply to requests for comment.
    Chinese researchers have also published a number of recent
studies on long COVID, with more expected.
    A study published in November found that half of a set of
COVID-19 patients discharged from a Wuhan hospital in early 2020
still had symptoms - mostly mild - three years later. Another
study in Beijing published in October found that 28.7% of a
group of infected healthcare workers and 39.2% of a group of
infected residents still had COVID symptoms five months after
they were infected.
    But several academics and doctors in China said a variety of
concerns have made the research community increasingly wary
about long COVID, including sensitivities around bio-data
security and policymakers' eagerness to put the pandemic behind
them.
    "Although the government's investment is continuing ... the
interest of the country's researchers seems to be falling," said
Tan Hao, an academic at Hunan University's Emergency Science
Research Center. He has urged creating a platform for long COVID
where patients could receive guidance and support.
    China's National Health Commission said in a faxed reply to
queries that the country supported scientific researchers
looking at the coronavirus.
    Regarding long COVID, it said Chinese and international
research so far suggested the rate of occurrence is low, organ
damage is fairly rare, and symptoms gradually improve with the
passage of time.
    Other relevant agencies and ministries contacted for
comment, including the Ministry of Science and Technology and
China's State Council, referred Reuters to China's National
Health Commission or did not respond.
    Many countries have played down the significance of long
COVID, or even failed to acknowledge it as a condition, but
China's large population and unique circumstances give it a
particularly essential role to play in long COVID research,
according to several scientists and researchers.
    "There is a huge opportunity for Chinese scientists to
contribute and help us solve this complex puzzle," said Ziyad
Al-Aly, a senior clinical epidemiologist at Washington
University in St. Louis, Missouri. He pointed to possible
lessons from China's public health response and the potential
for optimising future vaccine strategies.
        "I hope they do not sit this one out," he said.

 (Reporting by Andrew Silver and Jennifer Rigby; Editing by
Michele Gershberg, Miyoung Kim and Edmund Klamann)
 ((andrew.silver@thomsonreuters.com;))