Thousands of people experiencing the debilitating symptoms of long covid are travelling abroad to seek costly but unproven treatments such as "blood washing", according to an investigation carried out by The BMJ and ITV News released today.
Patients are travelling to private clinics in Cyprus, Germany and Switzerland for apheresis - a blood filtering treatment normally used for patients with lipid disorders that have not responded to drugs - and anti-clotting therapy.
But experts question whether these invasive therapies should be offered without sufficient evidence.
ITV News visited a private clinic in Cyprus and spoke to its co-founder Marcus Klotz and several patients. The full report by ITV News Science Editor Deborah Cohen will air on 13/07/2022 on ITV Evening News at 6.30pm and ITV News at Ten.
