New funding for long Covid research centre raised

The Long COVID Foundation (SLC) in the Netherlands has established a National Research & Innovation Center to study long covid, a condition that has left many people with debilitating symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog and memory loss. The government's initial €40 million research budget has been exhausted, so the foundation provided €500,000 in funding to seven researchers to continue their work and accelerate the development of diagnostics and treatments for long covid in adults and children.

The center aims to prevent the loss of research investment and knowledge by serving as an independent, open national research network. Long covid is estimated to have affected 400,000 people in the Netherlands, with 100,000 experiencing serious symptoms. Despite the challenges, the foundation believes distinct groups of long covid sufferers can be identified, and the center's research will focus on developing tailored treatments for different patient populations.

The foundation also seeks to expand its research to include other post-acute infection syndromes, such as ME/CFS. The foundation stresses the need for sustained public and private funding to ensure that scientific discoveries lead to effective diagnostics and treatments for long covid patients.