Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
2.3
1.0
Journals
COVID
Special Issues
Post-Acute Infection Syndromes: Lessons from Long COVID and Long Flu
share announcement

Post-Acute Infection Syndromes: Lessons from Long COVID and Long Flu

A special issue of COVID (ISSN 2673-8112). This special issue belongs to the section "COVID Clinical Manifestations and Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 2359

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ming Zheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, 27 Taiping Road, Beijing 100850, China
Interests: COVID-19; influenza; autoimmune disease
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Across diverse pathogens (viral, bacterial, parasitic), many survivors develop enduring symptoms—exertion intolerance, debilitating fatigue, neurocognitive issues, dysautonomia, pain, and “flu-like” malaise—with notable convergence across triggers and substantial disability experienced among a subset. Recognizing these common denominators alongside pathogen-specific sequelae can accelerate discovery and clinical progress.

The emergence of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), also known as long COVID, highlights a long-overlooked problem and suggests shared etiologies across post-acute infection syndromes (PAISs). Evidence across pathogens shows overlapping symptom clusters and prevalent chronic disability among a significant minority. However, objective markers and standardized endpoints remain limited, representing key challenges that this Special Issue aims to address.

This Special Issue will focus on post-acute infection syndromes (PAISs)—the “tails” of infectious diseases marked by persistent, multi-system symptoms after the acute phase—using long COVID and post-influenza (“long flu”) as the core examples. We invite mechanistic, translational, clinical, and epidemiologic studies that clarify shared pathways (e.g., antigen persistence, autoimmunity, dysbiosis/reactivation, impaired tissue repair) and trigger-specific features, advance objective measurement, and inform phenotype- or mechanism-guided care.

By combining shared mechanisms with trigger-specific biology, this Special Issue will (i) refine PAIS taxonomy (phenotypes/endotypes), (ii) identify surface reproducible biomarkers, and (iii) catalyze mechanism-guided trials, thus advancing care for long COVID, “long flu”, and related post-infectious conditions. 

Dr. Ming Zheng
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. COVID is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • post-acute infection syndromes
  • Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC)
  • COVID-19
  • long COVID
  • long flu
  • immune dysregulation
  • biomarkers
  • genomics
  • proteomics
  • immunomics
  • single-cell sequencing
  • immune repertoire
  • Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS)
  • mendelian randomization

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 2142 KB  
Article
Longitudinal Landscape of Long Flu and Long COVID
by Ming Zheng
COVID 2026, 6(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/covid6010021 - 18 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1376
Abstract
Influenza is typically framed as an acute respiratory infection, yet accumulating evidence suggests that—like SARS-CoV-2—it may trigger persistent, multi-organ morbidity consistent with a post-acute infection syndrome (“long flu”). Leveraging the nationwide FinnGen registry infrastructure, we conducted a temporally stratified disease-wide association study (DWAS) [...] Read more.
Influenza is typically framed as an acute respiratory infection, yet accumulating evidence suggests that—like SARS-CoV-2—it may trigger persistent, multi-organ morbidity consistent with a post-acute infection syndrome (“long flu”). Leveraging the nationwide FinnGen registry infrastructure, we conducted a temporally stratified disease-wide association study (DWAS) to map antecedent risk factors and long-term sequelae following clinically diagnosed influenza and COVID-19. We assembled an exposed cohort comprising 9204 individuals with influenza (ICD-10 J09–J11) and 4258 individuals with COVID-19 (ICD-10 U072) recorded in specialist inpatient/outpatient care between 1998 and 2021, and an unexposed comparator cohort of 420,005 individuals with no recorded influenza or pneumonia (J09–J18) across their available medical history. Across harmonized clinical endpoints, we fitted age- and sex-adjusted Cox proportional hazards models and controlled for multiple testing using a stringent false discovery rate threshold (FDR-adjusted p < 0.001), further interrogating temporal persistence within 1-, 5-, and 15-year windows. The DWAS revealed that both infections are associated with broad, system-spanning disease signatures extending beyond the respiratory tract, including circulatory, neurological, metabolic, musculoskeletal, digestive, mental/behavioural, ocular, and oncologic endpoints. Predisposition analyses demonstrated that infection risk is concentrated in individuals with substantial pre-existing multimorbidity, most prominently cardiovascular disease, alongside cardiometabolic, respiratory, renal, neuropsychiatric, and inflammatory conditions. Post-infection analyses identified a durable burden of incident multi-system morbidity after influenza, with particularly robust and persistent cardiovascular and neurological signatures—encompassing thromboembolic disease and major adverse cardiovascular outcomes, as well as migraine, neurodegenerative disorders, and depression—together with metabolic and renal sequelae that, in subsets, extended across multi-year horizons. Collectively, these longitudinal findings reframe influenza as a systemic event embedded within a chronic disease continuum, motivate recognition of “long flu” as a clinically meaningful post-viral risk landscape, and support intensified prevention and risk-stratified surveillance strategies alongside analogous efforts for long COVID. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Acute Infection Syndromes: Lessons from Long COVID and Long Flu)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 869 KB  
Article
A Retrospective Cohort Study to Determine COVID-19 Mortality, Survival Probability and Risk Factors Among Children in a South African Province
by Asongwe Lionel Ateh Tantoh, Makhutsisa Charlotte Mokoatle and Thokozani P. Mbonane
COVID 2026, 6(1), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/covid6010020 - 18 Jan 2026
Viewed by 634
Abstract
Numerous factors contributed to coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease recovery and death rates. In many countries, socioeconomics, morbidities, the experience of symptoms and access to healthcare services are major contributors to recovery and death rates. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to determine the [...] Read more.
Numerous factors contributed to coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease recovery and death rates. In many countries, socioeconomics, morbidities, the experience of symptoms and access to healthcare services are major contributors to recovery and death rates. A retrospective cohort study was conducted to determine the morbidity, mortality, survival probability, and risk factors associated with COVID-19 among children in the Free State province, South Africa. A total of 846 patients’ records were used in the study. Using SPSS version 28 software, survival probability was determined using Kaplan–Meier estimation curves and Cox regression was used to determine the effect of sociodemographics and clinical manifestation information on time of death. The COVID-19 mortality rate was 13.12% in our study. There were more female patients (60%) than male patients (40%). In total, 71 patients had two or more morbidities, while 414 patients were asymptomatic. Patients between 5 and 18 years old were at twice the risk of dying of COVID-19, and male children were at a higher risk as well. Having more than one symptom was also a risk for dying in this study. Severe COVID-19 is attributed to numerous factors, and these are closely associated with surrounding environments and public health systems. The findings are important for the clinical management of similar diseases and circumstances in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Post-Acute Infection Syndromes: Lessons from Long COVID and Long Flu)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop