{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,27]],"date-time":"2026-08-27T07:39:44Z","timestamp":1787816384091,"version":"build-2784847793"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,11]],"date-time":"2024-03-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1710115200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Private sources"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In Nepal, over 1 million individuals have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. We sought to describe the frequency of nonrecovery from this infection at 6 months and associated symptoms. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 6142 women who had positive and negative PCR tests for this infection 6 months previously at 3 institutions in Kathmandu. In telephone interviews women provided information on 22 symptoms and their intensities, health status and history, and functional status. Of 3732 women who had tested PCR positive, 630 (16.9%) reported that they were unrecovered. These 630 unrecovered women were distinguished statistically from the 3102 recovered women by more frequent histories of allergies, rheumatoid disease, BCG immunization, Covid vaccination, strep throat and recent URIs, and both weight gain and weight losses of more than 5 kg in the 6 months following testing, and stressful events in the preceding year. Fatigue, pain, difficulty remembering, shortness of breath, heat and cold intolerance and unrefreshing sleep were reported in 41.9% to 10.5% of these 630 unrecovered women. Six months after confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection 16.9% of Nepali women have long-COVID manifested as an immune, metabolic, and hormonal systems disruptive and dysfunction syndrome<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0299141","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,11]],"date-time":"2024-03-11T17:28:40Z","timestamp":1710178120000},"page":"e0299141","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Symptoms 6 months following SARS-CoV-2 infection in Nepali women"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7051-4088","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Deepak S.","family":"Shrestha","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sajani","family":"Manandhar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bimal Sharma","family":"Chalise","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sagar Kumar","family":"Rajbhandari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anup","family":"Bastola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Parmananda","family":"Bhandari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Santa Kumar","family":"Das","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pankaj","family":"Pant","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sangita","family":"Sharma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hari Prasad","family":"Kattel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Roshan Kumar","family":"Jha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8292-5757","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Mahendra Raj","family":"Shrestha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anil","family":"Shrestha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0775-2753","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Richard R.","family":"Love","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"pone.0299141.ref001","unstructured":"ndrrma.gov.np[internet]. 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Available from: https:\/\/www.commondataelements.ninds.nih.gov\/Myalgic%20Encephalomyelitis\/Chronic%20Fatigue%20Syndrome#pane-138."},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0299141.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"322","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chom.2020.05.014","article-title":"BCG Vaccination in Humans Elicits Trained Immunity via the Hematopoietic Progenitor Compartment.","volume":"28","author":"B Cirovic","year":"2020","journal-title":"Cell Host Microbe"},{"issue":"17","key":"pone.0299141.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1582","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMoa2212616","article-title":"Randomized trial of BCG vaccine to protect against Covid-19 in health care workers","volume":"388","author":"LF Pittet","year":"2023","journal-title":"N Engl J Med"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0299141.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"423","DOI":"10.3390\/covid1020036","article-title":"Temporal Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 Variants during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nepal.","volume":"1","author":"S Paudel","year":"2021","journal-title":"COVID"},{"issue":"9","key":"pone.0299141.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"934","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclinepi.2011.11.014","article-title":"Assessing risk of bias in prevalence studies: modification of an existing tool and evidence of interrater agreement.","volume":"65","author":"D Hoy","year":"2012","journal-title":"J Clin Epidemiol."},{"key":"pone.0299141.ref022","article-title":"Why does the pandemic seem to be hitting some countries harder than others?","author":"S. Mukherjee","year":"2021","journal-title":"The New Yorker."},{"key":"pone.0299141.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101019","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eclinm.2021.101019","article-title":"Characterizing long COVID in an international cohort: 7 months of symptoms and their impact.","volume":"38","author":"H.E. 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