Work

Contextualising Long Covid: Viral Sequelae, ‘Post-Encephalitis’ Lethargica and the Modern British Healthcare System, c. 1918–1945

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: In the months after March 2020, people across Britain began to seek medical attention for protracted illness following an infection with coronavirus disease 2019. Through the efforts of patients, these illnesses were eventually gathered into the diagnostic category of 'Long Covid' and therefore viewed as viral sequelae, in turn opening up the possibility for medical care and treatment in the British health system. This article adds to such patient-made knowledge of Long Covid through a comparative historical analysis with the problem of 'Post-Encephalitis' Lethargica (EL). In the early twentieth century, the viral sequelae of EL were parsed in line with and thus shaped by the binary divisions that were becoming used to structure healthcare in Britain. By telling this story of the past, this article provides a framework to understand if and how such administrative divisions within the National Health Service (NHS) might continue to inform perceptions of and responses to Long Covid in the present.

Source: Social History of Medicine

DOI: 10.1093/shm/hkae052

Author: Kate McAllister

Institution: University of Sheffield

Language: English

Topic: Long-Term Effects of COVID-19

Subfield: Neurology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,933