UVA Health researching blood cells’ connection to COVID-19 recovery

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Researchers with UVA Health say they have discovered a potential way to predict which patients could be more likely to experience long-haul COVID-19 symptoms.

Researchers ran blood tests on a group of patients who survived severe cases of COVID-19. Results suggested those who took longer to recover had less monocytes in their blood.

These white blood cells play a critical role in our ability to fend off diseases.

“It’s actually important to understand that even though we know a lot about COVID, actually we have a lot to learn about how the immune system works inside the lung,” Cathy Bonham with UVA Health said Thursday, March 14. “This was a major objective of this study; to try and understand some of the biology behind the disease.”

Researchers are expected to conduct more tests in the coming months.

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