Episode 31: Steven Deeks, M.D - HIV Specialist

As research into a new disease develops, we rely on lessons of the past.  In the case of Steven Deeks, M.D. he is using his (almost) 30 years of research into HIV to try and understand the mechanisms of Long Covid.  In March 2020 when most of us had not even considered it, his team set up a study to look at the longer term impacts of COVID-19.  Whilst tracking his cohort, and alongside careful study of others’ research over the past two years, Deeks has gathered a lot of data and believes we are beginning to establish patterns and mechanisms.

A Professor of Medicine in residence at the University of California, San Francisco, as well as a clinician, Deeks is an expert on HIV-associated immune dysfunction, and the parallels that he draws between HIV and Long Covid are startling.  Perhaps it doesn’t feel reassuring to Long Covid sufferers to find such similarities, but Deeks assures us that there are benefits: HIV research has been well-funded,  and we therefore have a large amount of information from which to draw, with the HIV establishment really contributing to advancing the agenda on Long Covid.

Bringing together several of the subjects of previous episodes, Deeks suggests that there are multiple mechanisms at play.  The good news is that some of these mechanisms have potential solutions and treatments.. the less good news is that the health care systems and government bodies still have a long way to go to catch up.

(Cited in interview: Seattle study | Arcadia study )