Long COVID has exposed medicine's blind-spot

On Feb 23, 2021, the National Institutes of Health announced a new US$1·15 billion initiative to support research and resources for so-called long COVID.1 This is the culmination of a year that has seen more scientific attention, public commentary, and media coverage of chronic unexplained medical symptoms (either post-infectious or not) than arguably the past decade combined. [...]disruptions in brain and brain–body function that probably account for such symptoms cannot yet be reliably identified by conventional blood tests or brain scans. [...]a common denominator in this field is medical consultations largely based on diagnostic exclusion, in which the absence of further answers or direction for recovery can leave patients feeling dismissed and dissatisfied.4 Two broad possibilities exist to explain where long COVID might fit in this complex and controversial field. The content of this article is the opinion of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the University of Toronto, Harvard Medical School, or Emory University School of Medicine (and their affiliated academic health-care centers).