Severe COVID-19 may wake up dormant viruses and lead to lasting physical disability, study finds

A severe case of COVID-19 can "reawaken" dormant viruses in the body, even in people with otherwise healthy immune systems, a new study finds.

These reactivated viruses include Epstein-Barr virus (the "mono" virus, or EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus (HSV) and anelloviruses. That final group of viruses can be found in the vast majority of people, but they have never been definitively shown to cause human disease.

However, in this study, the reactivation of these seemingly benign anelloviruses was linked to persistent physical disability from long COVID, researchers reported Aug. 5 in the journal Nature.

Anna Cliffe, an associate professor of microbiology, immunology and cancer biology at the University of Virginia who wasn't involved in thi...