Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome: Prolonged effort intolerance after SARS-CoV-2 infection

Abstract Many new complications have been arising after being infected with SARS-CoV-2. Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome is a new definition for patients with persistent symptoms and prolonged complications beyond 4 weeks of acute COVID-19. In this report, we present two cases of prolonged dyspnea and reduced effort capacity for 4 and 5 months, respectively. A 29-year-old male and 40-year-old female patients, found to be positive in rRT-PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2, had recurrent admission to the emergency department after having treated for COVID-19. Both of the patients were followed for 6 months. Although all potential cardiovascular, pulmonary and other system pathologies were ruled out, the prolonged dyspnea and reduced effort capacity started to improve after 4 months in the female and 5 months in the male patients. The patients were diagnosed with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome. It should be kept in mind that the post-acute COVID-19 syndrome may be a complication in patients with persistent symptoms after COVID-19.