Jo Macfarlane

Jo Macfarlane is an award-winning health reporter.

Thursday

Jo Macfarlane

The mysteries of ‘long Covid’

From our UK edition

Soon, as the rates of coronavirus deaths and infections plummet, we’re likely to focus more on those who suffer what is being called ‘long Covid’ — yet the truth is we know very little about what precisely it is. Long Covid began as a quiet murmur in the background: anecdotal stories about symptoms which extended beyond the predicted 14-day recovery time. There’s no agreed definition, so it’s hard to say how many sufferers there are, but a survey from the Office for National Statistics suggests it affects as many as one in ten of those who have had the virus. As the second wave retreats, the number of people left with long Covid may exceed those currently infected with the virus itself.

Saturday

Jo Macfarlane

The future of diagnostics is digital

From our UK edition

The heart beats rhythmically, its muscles quivering, the bright red blood pulsing through its chambers. It appears vibrantly — queasily — alive. But this heart is not inside a human body. It is kept artificially beating by a state-of-the-art machine, the Organ Care System (OCS), which simulates the body’s functions and even re-oxygenates the blood — one of the latest extraordinary inventions set to revolutionise the landscape of organ transplantation. The same system is being developed for lungs — which keeps them ‘breathing’ outside the body — and others will sustain livers and kidneys. Kept at body temperature, they are fed with blood and nutrients while their function is observed.