One of the organisers of the international meeting that will take place on April 2nd and 3rd in Lisbon, said “What we are going to try to do, the day after the conference, is to bring together an even smaller group with foreign colleagues who will be here (…) in a small committee to see if we can create some ’guidelines’ about this situation”, said rheumatologist Jame Branco.

Jaime Branco acknowledged that the covid-19 pandemic, which infected millions of people, also ended up increasing the number of patients who remain with symptoms that are now included in the so-called post-covid-19 condition.

In 2022, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) published a standard to define guidelines for diagnosis and clinical approach to the post-covid-19 condition, which can interfere with the quality of life and functional capacity of affected people.

Also known as ‘long-covid’, the post-covid-19 condition is defined by the spectrum of symptoms that occur in people with probable or confirmed infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, usually three months after the beginning of the acute phase of infection and lasting at least two months.

Among the most frequent symptoms in the post-covid-19 condition are according to this standard, fatigue, dyspnea (shortness of breath), changes in smell and taste, depression, anxiety and cognitive dysfunction.

Jamie Branco added, “Right now we have this problem and we must take advantage of it to learn from it and to be prepared, not only to help these patients but also to be able to better help future cases”.

The first international conference on ‘long-covid’ will take place on April 3rd and 4th, at the Luso-American Development Foundation, in Lisbon.

The meeting aims to increase visibility, clarify concepts, promote understanding and stimulate discussion among health professionals, researchers, policymakers, patients and community representatives about clinical manifestations, their management, therapeutic options and health challenges linked to myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long covid’.