RECOVER Atlanta | Emory School of Medicine

RECOVER: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery

RECOVER, a research initiative from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), seeks to understand, prevent, and treat PASC, including Long COVID. PASC stands for post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 and is a term scientists are using to study the potential consequences of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

What is Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC)?

SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that can infect the body and is referred to as a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Recovery from SARS-CoV-2 infection can vary from person to person:

Acute Infection:

Most people recover quickly from acute SARS-CoV-2 infection. People with acute infection report symptoms ranging from mild to severe. In some cases, this is diagnosed as COVID-19. Other people don't experience any symptoms of infection. But people who don’t experience symptoms also can be diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Post-acute Experiences, including Long COVID:

For some people, symptoms last weeks or months after the acute infection has passed. This is often referred to as Long COVID.

For other people, new symptoms may appear after the acute infection has passed whether they had symptoms during the acute infection or not.

PASC:

Together, these and other health effects of the virus are called post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, or PASC. PASC refers to what happens after the acute infection with the virus and is relevant whether a person has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or not. Even if someone did not experience symptoms, PASC is still relevant because there could be effects after acute infection.

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