StudyLTCovid.com

A peripheral smear gets prepared.

It gets air dried.

It gets fixed in ethanol or methanol, buffered to a pH value that cells like.

This step provides the guarantee that the cells on the slide are now fixed in time.

No further cellular changes to be anticipated or worried about: no cellular necrosis.

Then it gets stained: eosin to stain red. Crystal violet to stain blue.

Then washed, and dried, and reviewed under the microscope.

The goal here?

• To see if blood cells, especially leukocytes or white blood cells are normal or not in those with "long-term" COVID-19.
• To see if a specific but very light amount of exercise influences these findings.
• To see if an intervention with light (as already described) impacts on these findings.

What do "normal" leukocytes look like?

They look like this ...

The link to the above video is here.

Have others looked at the peripheral smears of those with COVID-19?

Yes. Here are some references that include some useful images, describing the hematologic findings.

Morphological anomalies of circulating blood cells in COVID-19

Morphology of COVID-19–affected cells in peripheral

Peripheral Blood Examination Findings in SARS-CoV-2 Infection

SIMPLE_PERIPHERAL_BLOOD_SMEAR_FINDINGS_OF_COVID-19

These were reportedly more for acute COVID than "long-term" COVID subjects.

But from what we have already seen, these abnormal morphologic findings are also still in evidence in "long-term" COVID-19.

We'll soon place some of these images here.

We have developed a grading system to help quantify how pronounced or frequent these findings are in any given individual.

We apply this to see the effect of the 6 Minute Walking Test with a before and after peripheral smear (Pre 6'WT and 15' Post WT).

We do a differential count of the white blood cells seen in these blood smears. That helps to place a given smear (and time) in comparison with known normal value ranges.

Normally, each cell type occupies a percentage of all the white cells seen.

Neutrophils: 40 to 60%

Lymphocytes: 20 to 40%

Monocytes: 2 to 8%

Eosinophils: 1 to 8%

Basophils: 0.5 to 1%

Bands or Stabs (young neutrophils): 0 to 3%

Conditions where the number of each group in the family of White Blood Cells is increased or decreased can be found here as general information.

But what if one sees NO normal looking neutrophils, and they all look like COVID cells?

Then what?

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