Quantification of fibrinaloid clots in plasma from pediatric Long COVID patients

Understanding Long COVID: definition, prevalence, and diagnosis

• Several comments note that Long COVID remains poorly defined: symptom lists are broad (fatigue, headaches, aches, brain fog) and overlap with common complaints in healthy people or with other conditions (e.g. menopause, “unhealthy living,” chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia).
• One side argues there is now a clear clinical construct, substantial literature, and very real disability; they emphasize underdiagnosis, doctors dismissing complaints, and mislabeling as anxiety, burnout, or depression.
• Skeptical voices argue that prevalence estimates are all over the map (from a few percent to >30%), that studies often mix mild, transient symptoms with serious chronic illness, and that 1-in-5 children or adults with persistent symptoms seems implausible.
• Several anecdotes describe significant long-term impacts (cardiac issues, pulmonary decline in competitive athletes, neuropathy, cognitive issues) that would have been missed without close performance tracking.

Interpretation of the microclot study and the “94%” number

• The original post/title led some to think the device was “94% accurate” at diagnosing Long COVID; closer reading shows the 0.94 figure is the area under the ROC curve for distinguishing LC vs controls using microclot counts.
• Commenters explain that AUC ~0.94 is “outstanding” discrimination, but on a tiny sample (45 LC, 14 controls). The paper itself treats this as preliminary and calls for larger studies.
• There is debate over the casual use of “accuracy” without specifying sensitivity/specificity, and warnings that an impressive single number is meaningless without prevalence context.
• Some label the work “junk science” due to small N; others frame it as a legitimate exploratory pilot.

Infection vs vaccination as source of microclots / long-term harm

• A subset argues that spike-protein–induced microclots could arise from both infection and mRNA vaccination, and criticizes the study for not stratifying by vaccination status.
• Others push back that this line quickly shades into anti-vaccine rhetoric, and note that available work (as they recall it) generally finds vaccine harms to be much rarer and milder than harms from infection.
• There is no consensus in the thread on how well current research distinguishes post-infection vs post-vaccination syndromes, only agreement that more targeted studies are needed.

Side discussion: bloodletting, plasmapheresis, and “oil changes”

• One commenter reports subjective energy improvement after blood donation and cites small studies showing metabolic benefits from iron reduction.
• This leads to debate about mechanisms (iron, PFAS or toxin removal, hormonal confounders in menstruation) and the lack of outcome data linking regular phlebotomy to better health or longevity.
• Modern therapeutic plasmapheresis is mentioned as an established treatment for some autoimmune and other conditions, and speculative for Long COVID and aging, but evidence remains limited.

Why Long COVID may be under- or over-counted

• Under-count arguments: many patients don’t know to seek a Long COVID diagnosis; symptoms may be subtle (e.g. 10% drop in performance), or get reclassified as other conditions. Stigma and medical dismissal also reduce reporting.
• Over-count arguments: given that nearly everyone has had COVID, it’s easy to blame coincident health changes (aging, menopause, other diseases) on infection; broad symptom baskets and heterogeneous study methods inflate prevalence.
• Several participants conclude Long COVID is likely a spectrum—from silent or mild organ damage to severe disability—with incidence and severity still uncertain.