Key points you should know:
- Argentina has no dedicated Long COVID clinics, no disability insurance, and no government recognition, leaving patients to diagnose themselves and search for informal care.
- Only a couple of Long COVID studies are being conducted in Argentina. One includes over 100 patients and involves analysis of MRI brain scans.
- Patients live not only with Long COVID but also the stressful situation of living in a country with high inflation and poverty, while they create their support chat groups to share knowledge, treatments, and information.
In a city called Mar del Plata, 251 miles south of Buenos Aires, Micaela Carrizo was juggling making a living in the chaotic and never-ending economic crisis of Argentina while trying to finish her studies, spend time with friends, and complete her first book. It was 2021, and she enjoyed her psychology coursework, reading, and working out when she had time.
But now she has to carefully plan everything in advance, both physically and mentally, because of Long COVID, which is called COVID persistente in Argentina.
“The first time I experienced exhaustion after even a little activity was after playing just fifteen minutes of football with my nephew, before I was diagnosed, when I wasn’t yet feeling so unwell,” said Carrizo. She now misses playing football and basketball with him.
Argentina is facing an invisible Long COVID crisis, marked by a lack of clinics, minimal media attention, no disability insurance to help people with the disease cope with their inability to work, and only a couple of Long COVID studies — all amid a 48% cut to the national health budget under President Javier Milei. This move mirrors his close ally, President Trump, who has targeted and attempted to erase Long COVID and the ongoing pandemic in the U.S.
Meanwhile, Argentina is suffering from a constant economic crisis, with over 100% inflation last year, and about 38% of the population living in poverty as of late 2024, according to data from Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses. This adds yet another layer of stress for Argentinians with Long COVID, which has been found to increase housing and financial insecurity.
No medical recognition
Carrizo first caught COVID-19 in 2021. When she started experiencing long-term symptoms, her medical tests repeatedly came back “normal,” common for many people with the disease. Despite her medical conditions, her employer forced her to return to work. Over time, she developed extreme fatigue, dizziness, and difficulty staying on her feet.
As Carrizo’s symptoms multiplied, including cognitive issues and hand pain, she visited numerous specialists. But nobody could explain what was happening. Through the help of other patients, she learned about dysautonomia, a disorder affecting the autonomic nervous system. She underwent a tilt table test, a controversial assessment in which clinicians monitor a patient’s heart rate and blood pressure as a table is tilted to simulate standing, and received her diagnosis for the condition. Soon after, Carrizo had to quit her job.
In the city of Buenos Aires, psychiatrist Celeste Alonso also spent months consulting specialists without answers about her health. She saw specialists to rule out autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases, but no doctor mentioned Long COVID. Finally, with the help of other patients, she recognized she had Long COVID. Since then, she has had to adapt her professional and social life.
“[We need] awareness raising, prevention, and continued funding for research,” said Alonso. The Long COVID crisis is “exasperating.”
In northwestern Argentina in 2020, in the province of Salta, Marcela Bottale got severely ill with COVID-19. She spent a month hospitalized with pneumonia. She survived, returned to work, and got vaccinated, assuming the worst was over. Little did she know that soon after, inexplicable symptoms would surface: extreme fatigue and cognitive dysfunction. Eventually, Bottale had to quit her job.
“There are no specialized doctors or clinics, it’s not even legislated,” said Bottale, explaining the lack of government attention on the disease.
“[We need] awareness raising, prevention, and continued funding for research,” said Alonso. The Long COVID crisis is “exasperating.”
Limited research is underway
Bottale and Alonso are participating in one of the few Long COVID research studies conducted in Argentina.
Lead researchers Marcela Brocco and Martin Belzunce shared results from the moderately sized study in BMC Neurology in late 2024. They received funding from the local government in the General San Martín district, outside the city of Buenos Aires.
As of March 2022, there were nearly 100,000 documented COVID-19 cases in that district, out of a population of 450,000, according to local newspaper La Nación.
The first part of the study aimed to explore the longer-term cognitive effects and brain structure changes in people with Long COVID through MRI scans. The researchers found that participants had structural brain changes two years post-infection and concluded that “comprehensive interventions and further longitudinal studies” are needed “to understand the long-term effects of long COVID on cognition and brain health.” The results are in line with many other studies from around the world, which show COVID-19’s impact on the brain following even “mild” cases.
A separate 2024 study, led by researchers from Northwestern University and conducted in Colombia, similarly evaluated neurological Long COVID symptoms years after infection in a group of 100 patients. Those researchers determined that brain fog and fatigue, along with depression, most affected participants’ quality of life two or three years after COVID-19, and that people performed poorly on tests of attention and processing speed.
Other research has shown Long COVID’s impact on every organ system in the body. A 2024 review paper in Nature estimated that more than 400 million people around the world are affected by Long COVID. A preprint meta-analysis shared earlier this year found the pooled prevalence of Long COVID in South America to be 51%.
Researchers recruited participants for the San Martín study between February and November 2023, selecting 137 people who lived in the San Martín area: 109 who had persistent cognitive symptoms for more than three months after COVID-19 and 28 healthy controls.
A second phase of the study began this year, with researchers expanding their work to include 80 new participants. They also received new funding from the International Brain Research Organization and Wellcome Trust. The study is carried out with the support of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, which employs Brocco and Belzunce, and with the National University of San Martín, which provides MRI machines and other lab equipment.
This time, in addition to brain scans, they collected samples of saliva and hair, aiming to identify biological markers that might help researchers better track Long COVID.
The researchers analyzed proteins in saliva related to mental stress, studied hair cortisol levels (which reflect stress over the past three months), and took further MRI scans to observe changes in the brain.
Economic crisis compounds people’s challenges
“[Doctors in Argentina] don’t consider it a disease,” Belzunce said, “But rather a patient complaint with no real issue. That’s what we hear from many of our volunteers in the study.”
Brocco and Belzunce hope their findings will help validate that Long COVID is also an issue in Argentina and raise more awareness about the disease.
“In countries with fewer resources, where there are many other issues that seem more important or tangible than this one [Long COVID], those issues take priority,” said Belzunce.
Although the study has not yet been published, it is another in the tens of thousands from around the world showing the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on nearly every organ system.
“I find myself having to take the time to explain to every person I meet that this is happening to me, that Long COVID exists, that many others experience it, and that we all need to look out for one another,” said Alonso.
Argentina’s economic crisis adds alarming pressure. The country’s poverty rate fell from 52.9% in early 2024 to 38.1% in the second half of the year, but is still high. Inflation remained high, at 100% annually. Meanwhile, President Milei’s government has slashed healthcare funding by 48%, crashed vital public health programs, and fired over 2,000 health ministry employees, according to an AP report.
In the absence of treatments, clinics, and support as COVID-19 continues to spread, Argentina’s Long COVID patients are coming together through social media to create awareness.
“Talking to other people was crucial,” said Alonso. “It really gave me the feeling of, ‘Hey, I’m not the only person this is happening to.’”
But the lack of attention and media coverage, coupled with increased stigma, worries them.
“[Long COVID] is completely ignored,” said Brocco.
Most people are self-diagnosed and try different vitamins or therapies suggested by other patients on their own. There is no clear path for treating Long COVID in Argentina.
“Many of us are desperate to go back to work at any job, for financial reasons, to ease the burden on those who care for us, and to regain our autonomy,” Carrizo said. “We need access to diagnostics and treatments, and for that we need qualified doctors. We need formal research, but we also need it to be connected to medical practice.”
We need access to diagnostics and treatments, and for that we need qualified doctors. We need formal research, but we also need it to be connected to medical practice.
Micaela Carrizo
Writer’s note: Interviews were conducted in Spanish.
Delfi Marchese is an intern at The Sick Times specializing in data journalism.
All articles by The Sick Times are available for other outlets to republish free of charge. We request that you credit us and link back to our website.
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[…] other South American countries, including Argentina, Colombia lacks awareness of Long COVID. There are no specialized clinics and only a handful of […]