Speakers

Biography

Reinhart Jarisch, FAZ, Floridsdorf Allergy Center, Vienna, Austria. He successfully studied seasickness with the German navy and Successfully treated dementia with spermidine. He established antihistamine premedication.

Abstract

Post-infectious diseases such as Long-COVID and Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) affect millions of patients and represent a worldwide healthcare problem. Currently, there is no biomarker for the diagnosis, and due to the lack of knowledge about disease mechanisms, no causative treatment is available. Upon infection, SARS-CoV-2 is known to modulate cellular metabolism and reduce autophagy. Accordingly, compound-driven induction of autophagy limits SARS-CoV-2 propagation. Spermidine is known to enhance autophagy in brain tissue. Of interest is that spermidine, given to a culture of coronaviruses, can inhibit the release of infectious SARS-CoV-2 particles by 87%. We, therefore, speculated that a low spermidine level could be a typical laboratory marker for post-viral ME/CFS and long-term COVID patients.
Material and methods: We measured spermidine levels in serum samples from patients who developed ME/CFS after EBV infection (n=16), Long COVID patients (n=30), patients who fully recovered after SARS-CoV-2 infections (n=30) and compared the results with healthy persons (n=30). Spermidine levels were measured using the ELISA- Kit from abbexa®.
Results: We measured significantly reduced spermidine levels in samples from patients fully recovered after SARS-CoV-2 infections compared to healthy controls. Samples from this group were collected in a median of 119 days after infection. Our data indicate a long-term impact of viral infections on systemic spermidine levels.
 
Discussion: As the biogenic amine spermidine is mandatory for normal brain function, reduced sperminide levels might impact the development of post-viral disease.