Severe COVID may awaken dormant viruses, fueling long-COVID questions

A study of 1,154 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 found that severe infection can reactivate dormant viruses in the body, including EBV, CMV, HSV and anelloviruses. Nearly half (about 550 participants) showed at least one reactivation, with different viruses turning on at different times and linking to immune/metabolic changes and persistent long-COVID symptoms in some patients. While these findings suggest a potential role for viral reactivation in disease severity and long COVID, the authors stress that RNA detection shows association, not causation, and call for prospective interventional trials to test whether antiviral treatment could improve outcomes.