Many parts of life leave us feeling trapped, and since 2020 that includes feeling stuck with getting this or that variant of COVID intermittently. Besides feeling annoyed that it keeps biting us with acute episodes, many also have to deal with the repeated waves of intensified Long COVID or Post COVID syndrome. This study offers some insights as to why so many suffer for months after the acute infection and gives those of us in functional medicine ideas to help you recover faster and more fully after COVID infections. While COVID’s nasty fingers have many mechanisms to poke into our bodies, the study evaluates how this virus opens the doors to awaken other sleeping viruses in our bodies.
Background
To understand how viruses could either sleep or wake up in our bodies, you Need-To-Know that we have generally misunderstood viral infections over the past years of medicine. We generally thought that for most viruses, you were exposed to something brand new, got infected, got sick, got better, and it was done and gone. Sure, there were a few like chickenpox that could return as shingles decades later or herpes that kept flaring up a lip or other body parts. We thought everything else was gone for good and, with a little help, our immune system would keep it out the next time.
First Need-To-Know
If life and viruses were that simple, we would have less to write about here. In reality, our bodies are filled with sleeping (in science, ‘dormant’), viruses. We may or may not have had symptoms at their initial entrance, but they hide out somewhere in our cells causing little to no problems for the vast majority of people. They can insert themselves in our very DNA waiting for an opportunity. They can use other means to hide from our immune system in an inactive state. Nothing happens until… an opportunity arises. We need to realize that we are filled with many viruses from prior years that could reawaken under the right circumstances.
Second Need-To-Know
Now that we are aware of the enemy’s hideouts in our bodies, we need to know what offers them an opportunity waken up and cause havoc. One common trigger are immune suppression factors, like steroids, chemotherapy, high stress, poor sleep, or poor nutrition, which can open the prison door, giving the dormant viruses a chance to party again. Patients on immune suppressing drugs or the average college student cramming for finals will tell you how much easier it was to get sick in these time periods.
Third Need-To-Know (Specifically for COVID)
With COVID, the researchers behind this study, published in the prestigious Nature, suspect that immune stimulation could be the driving force in Long COVID that wakes these viruses up. It seems to them that the high levels of inflammation are what opens the doors for various herpes family viruses or other viruses to start reproducing. They based this suspicion on measurements of inflammation biomarkers indicating more inflammation had more viral activation.
In their study of over 1,100 COVID infected subjects, 47.9% had at least 1 virus reactivated, in addition to COVID. Almost one-third had more than 1 virus reactivated. Other cited research suggested that some viruses like EBV and CMV being reactivated also contributed to worse mortality. In addition to EBV and CMV being common, another less well-known virus family called Anelloviridae was frequently found. The consequences of this virus are not clear.
Take Aways For Functional Medicine
Combining this information with what we know about acute and Long COVID from other studies and clinical experience, we can continue some current approaches to both forms of COVID in those we care for. During the acute phase, we target the excessive inflammation and cytokine cascade (high levels of immune messengers driving high inflammation) with natural anti-inflammatories. For those who do not recover within a couple of weeks, we work on the variety of mechanisms we know the produce Long COVID symptoms, like autoimmunity, gut dysfunction, limbic imbalance, mast cell activation, and dealing with these chronic viral reactivations. With the viral reactivations we support the immune system so it can restore balance and restore life to those in that COVID darkness.
If you need help after Long COVID, we would love to help you restore a healthier, more abundant life. Click HERE
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Original Article:
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Thanks to Science Daily:
Boston Children’s Hospital. “COVID-19 awakens dormant viruses — and one is linked to long COVID.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 August 2026. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260814011034.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Dr. Eric Potter graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and then went on to specialize in internal medicine (adult) and pediatric care, spending significant time and effort in growing his medical understanding while caring for patients from all walks of life.
