The medical episteme and the uncertainties of Long COVID diagnosis: an anthropological essayLong COVID is a condition following the acute Covid-19 infection, with persistence of symptoms for a long time or the worsening or emergence of other complications. Despite the recurrence of this phenomenon, there is a diagnostic invisibility. This essay aims to analyze, from the point of view of the medical epistemology, the uncertainties surrounding this phenomenon from its recognition as a disease, as well as its nonspecific symptoms, especially fatigue, which ultimately influence its diagnostic invisibility. This type of analysis is a proposal in tune with the Socio-anthropological approach to health and disease and the Anthropology of Biomedicine. As it is a global health issue that translates into a temporary or permanent disabling condition, understanding the reasons for its diagnostic invisibility from the point of view of the Western biomedicine can help to better understand it and manage its care.
Keywords:
Long COVID; diagnosis; medical epistemology; biomedicine