Comment
The German National Cohort (NAKO) will make an important contribution to the National Decade against Post-Infectious Diseases initiative launched by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). Through its many years of groundwork, NAKO is providing the basis for a better understanding of the health consequences of infections – including Long COVID syndrome – in the population.
“Research into the consequences of infectious diseases is immensely important, as we assume that a large part of the burden of disease is not even visible in regular healthcare. The German National Cohort (NAKO), as a long-term, population-based study, can make an invaluable contribution here,” says Prof. Dr. Annette Peters, Chair of the Board of NAKO e.V. and Director of the Institute of Epidemiology at Helmholtz Munich. “Infections contribute to triggering common diseases in the population or exacerbating their course. We will now have the opportunity to investigate the underlying mechanisms through genome sequencing. In order to better map post-infectious diseases in the population, we will conduct a survey of NAKO participants on symptoms, past infections and disease progression in a joint project starting in 2026. We will also investigate epigenetic changes in long COVID and post-acute infection syndromes. This opens up the possibility of investigating these issues even more comprehensively and from a new scientific perspective.”
NAKO e.V. would like to thank the BMFTR for incorporating the study into the National Decade against Post-Infectious Diseases. Together with other partners in health research, NAKO will make a significant contribution to improving care and understanding post-infectious diseases.