The 1st genome-wide hunt to find genetic risk factors for long COVID has identified a DNA sequence near a gene called FOXP4, which is active in the lungs and in some immune cells.
The study, which was released as a preprint on the 1st of July, used data collected from more than 6,400 long COVID patients across 16 countries. Researchers hope that this analysis will be just the beginning: a vast amount of data are required to unpick a disorder as complex as long COVID, which has been associated with more than 200 symptoms, including severe fatigue, nerve pain and difficulties with concentration and memory.
Further information can be found in this article published by Nature: Gene linked to long COVID found in analysis of thousands of patients (nature.com)
