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Review
. 2020 Oct 21;7(12):ofaa509.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa509. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Postacute COVID-19: An Overview and Approach to Classification

Eva M Amenta  1 , Amy Spallone  2 , Maria C Rodriguez-Barradas  2   3 , Hana M El Sahly  2   4 , Robert L Atmar  2 , Prathit A Kulkarni  2   3
Affiliations
Review

Postacute COVID-19: An Overview and Approach to Classification

Eva M Amenta et al. Open Forum Infect Dis. .

Abstract

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has progressed, a large volume of literature has developed delineating the clinical manifestations of acute infection. Recent reports have also started to describe persistent symptoms extending beyond the period of initial illness or hospitalization. Anecdotes of different signs and symptoms occurring after acute infection have also arisen in the lay press. Here we describe the current existing medical literature on the emerging concept of postacute COVID-19 and suggest an approach to classifying different manifestations of the syndrome. We also review long-term clinical manifestations observed in patients who recovered from infection due to other epidemic coronaviruses and briefly discuss potential mechanisms driving the phenomenon of postacute COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; definition; long COVID; postacute.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Progression of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection to postacute COVID-19. The figure shows the various forms of progression fo acute SARS-CoV-2 infection (classified using NIH symptom severity criteria [1]) to the proposed categories of postacute COVID-19, which include (1) persistent symptoms; (2) organ dysfunction; and (3) MIS. There is likely a relationship between organ dysfunction and persistent symptoms that is not yet completely understood. Abbreviations: COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; MIS, multisystem inflammatory syndrome; NIH, National Institutes of Health; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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