著者S. マルガリット
While the COVID-19 pandemic’s grip has loosened, millions worldwide grapple with long-term effects. A recent JAMA Network report estimates 7% of US adults, or nearly 18 million, experience Long COVID. Scientists pinpoint microscopic blood clots as a potential culprit. I spoke with Markus Klotz, co-founder of the Apheresis Center in Larnaca, Cyprus, and a former Long COVID patient himself, to delve deeper into the condition and their promising treatment protocol.
Markus, many Long COVID patients struggle despite seeming recovery. What’s the cause?
「簡単に言うとご存知のように、COVID-19ウイルスはトゲトゲに覆われた丸い形をしている。ウイルス感染が治癒しても、ウイルス体から切り離されたトゲがかなりの量、患者の血流や体内に残っているケースがある。
これらのトゲはフィブリノゲンと呼ばれるタンパク質に引っかかり、絡まる。フィブリノゲンが繊維の形をしていることは、その名前からも理解できるだろう。フィブリノゲンは、傷害が生じた場合、血液血小板を繊維の網で結びつけ、傷害が生じた場所に固定することによって、血液血小板を結合させる。
Once a COVID-19 spike gets caught in a fibrinogen net, it weakens its strength and flexibility. The fibrinogen net gets broken and pieces of it start circulating the blood stream creating fibrin aggregates, so called microclots that researchers have found to cause quite a substantial amount of symptoms. Especially as they include amyloid proteins which makes them extremely hard to dissolve. Of course in many cases there are other processes involved – often downstream of the microclots/hypercoagulation – hyperinflammation, autoimmune processes and neurological issues.”
血液中にmicroclots 。
“I recommend you first consult your doctor. There is a few research laboratories that test for microclots and endothelial damage. You can also take the online diagnostic screening questionnaire test available on our website, developed by our medical advisor Dr. Gustavo Aguirre-Chang. By now though we have more accurate molecular diagnostic tests – spike protein persistence tests that show where spike remains in the patients’ system – in the serum, the exosomes or the immune cells.”
患者が経験する症状とは？
“The National Healthcare Service in the UK (NHS UK) has published a few symptoms like extreme tiredness (fatigue), shortness of breath, problems with your memory and concentration (“brain fog”), heart palpitations, dizziness and joint pain and muscle aches. For so many patients we meet here in our clinic, the symptoms are so severe that they are bedridden close to 23 hours a day, but there is also many that have more mild versions but are still struggling a lot to live a normal life.”
When Markus fell ill at the end of 2020 after contracting Covid and his life was taken away from him through a severe case of Long Covid, he, his family and friends already had lost hope of a recovery when a therapy in Mülheim, Germany brought him back to life again. Dr. Beate Jaeger treated him with H.E.L.P. Apheresis for Long Covid. He was patient Nr. 14 in her published case study.
読者の皆さんに、あなたの個人的なロングCOVIDの経験を教えていただけますか？
“I was bedridden, constantly fatigued, with terrible muscle aches. The slightest exertion left me breathless, and my mind felt perpetually foggy. I couldn’t even watch TV or read the news. Depression and anxiety weighed heavily. No doctor could diagnose or offer any treatment. Joining Dr. Jaeger’s H.E.L.P. Apheresis study became my lifeline “
After his recovery, Markus took upon himself a mission to make the treatment available for more patients and together with his best friends Constantinos Georgiou and Silke Fischer with the support of Dr. Beate Jaeger opened the Apheresis Center in Larnaca with Dr. Irina Pavlik Marangos, who leads the medical team as the Medical Director. Utilizing their clinical experience and cooperating with doctors and researchers from all over the world, they developed ‘The Cyprus Protocol’, a combination therapy to treat Long COVID and other chronic conditions”
マーカス、H.E.L.P. アフェレシスとの併用療法がロングCOVID患者の治療に効果的なのはなぜですか？
「通常のアフェレシス法は、異なる血液成分を分離するために世界中で一般的に使用されている。例えば、血小板提供の場合、ドナーはアフェレーシス装置に接続され、血小板を濾過し、残りの血液成分を血流に戻します。これはストレーナーのようなもので、穴が小さいほど多くの成分をろ過することができる。残念ながら、COVID-19やmicroclots のようなウイルスのスパイクタンパク質は小さく、一般的なアフェレーシス装置のフィルターを通過してしまう。
However, H.E.L.P. Apheresis works differently. Instead of using mechanical components to filter the blood, H.E.L.P. Apheresis cleans the blood using several chemical solutions and processes, literally making the machine a “live laboratory”. First it separates the plasma from the rest of the blood. Then injecting an acetate buffer it turns the plasma’s acidity level to 5,2 pH, creating an environment in which spike proteins, pathogenic proteins and microclots and other toxins and pathogens irreversibly bind to the now injected heparan sulfate, a form of heparin. This process is called precipitation – the solidified ‘precipitate’ remains in a filter-like structure (precipitation filter) with a surface size of over two football fields. The clean plasma is then going through a counter-dialysis with bicarbonate to normalise the pH value again and after that through ultrafiltration/a heparin adsorber and is finally warmed up to body temperature and returned to the bloodstream together the rest of the blood components.
Most forms of Apheresis procedures are very different and therefore less efficient – a selective absorber or precipitation seems to be key.”
また、H.E.L.P. アフェレーシスは本当に効果があるのでしょうか？
「このクリニックでは、80％の成功率を記録しています。何らかの理由で、推奨されるH.E.L.P. アフェレーシスの回数をすべて受けられない患者でも、大幅な改善が見られました。多くの患者が、自宅に戻ったときに回復が著しく早かったと報告しています。すべては症状の重さによるのです」。
マーカスはロングCOVIDとH.E.L.P. アフェレーシスについて熱く語っているが、私が次の質問をしたとき、彼は実際に輝いていた。
しかし、H.E.L.P. クリニックで患者を治療するのはアフェレーシスだけではない？
“H.E.L.P. is the crown jewel of the treatment as it is the core part of ‘The Cyprus Protocol’ we use in the clinic. It’s a combination of several different therapies designed to clean the blood from microclots, support the recovery process and provide the patient with means to prevent the next infection.
It includes clinical nutrition supervision, IV therapy, antiviral medications, IVIG IgM enhanced therapy, hyperthermia, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, immunoadsorption therapy and post treatment support by a health coach. Each treatment plan is tailored by Dr. Irina Pavlik Marangos and our clinical nutritionist and clinical director Chryso Zorbas. While not every patient will be undergoing all the treatments, specific combinations of some of them are ‘doing wonders’ for Long COVID and Post Vac, as well as for chronic illness patients”
顕著な結果が得られているとのことですが、なぜこの治療法はまだ世界中のどの保健機関からも承認されていないのですか？
「ロング・コビッドの臨床試験はまだ始まったばかりで、たとえばNHS UKのウェブサイトをよく見れば、症状管理だけを手助けするもので、治療や治癒を目的としたものではないことがわかる。臨床試験と承認手続きは少なくとも2030年まで続くと予想しています。ロングCOVID患者は2030年まで何をすべきでしょうか？ベッドに横になって待つのか？"
“Every treatment we offer our patients is clinically approved by health agencies around the world and considered as safe, they are just not labelled as ‘Long Covid or Post Vac treatments’ yet.”
治療をもっと身近なものにしたいとお考えでしょうが、ではなぜキプロスなのですか？
“Well, the answer lies in your question. The operating costs for a clinic like ours are higher in the rest of the European Union or in the USA for example, thus letting us provide the treatments at a better cost. 70 direct flights and English language are just two more of the long list of reasons we chose Cyprus. The island itself has a high standard private health infrastructure. I have to say that the beautiful view of the Mediterranean and the sunny blue sky also help our patients recovery. I like what Stephen, one of our patients said: ‘We managed to blend German efficiency and Cypriot hospitality at our clinic.”
最後にマーカスさんから、他のロングCOVID患者や休暇明けの患者、慢性疾患患者に向けて何か言いたいことはありますか？
マルクスは数秒間考え込み、感情的な表情で答えた。
“For me the worst part was the mental part, not knowing what you really have is devastating, but my message as a former patient to other patients is don’t lose hope! Speak to your doctor, ask for available treatments and don’t lose hope. We also provide free consultation to patients from all over the world and you are welcome to do that too.”
