A recent study found evidence of a "long cold" syndrome associated with a variety of common respiratory viruses, including the common cold and influenza.
The study, published Oct. 6 in The Lancet's eClinicalMedicine, analyzed data from more than 10,000 U.K. adults. About 13% of people in the study were diagnosed with COVID-19 at least four weeks before and another 4.6% diagnosed with a non-COVID-19 acute respiratory infection, such as influenza, common cold, bronchitis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis or ear infection.
They found some symptoms of long COVID-19 and long colds overlapped, and patients with long COVID-19 were more likely to experience lightheadedness, dizziness and problems with taste and smell. Meanwhile, long cold symptoms were more likely to include coughing, stomach pain and diarrhea. Both were associated with symptoms more than four weeks after an acute infection.
An April study also found the rate of patients who developed "long flu" after catching influenza was similar to the patients who developed long COVID-19 after an infection.