Dr. Jeroen den Dunnen

Huge congratulations to my talented postdoc @oliverch77.bsky.social on obtaining the prestigious Veni grant! On your way to start your own research group 🙂. www.zonmw.nl/en/news/200-...

Finally, big thanks to the involved doctors Thadé Goderie, Niek Versfeld, and Alain Bauwens. And to Noaharu Kitajima, who previously described post-acute infection dizziness like this after influenza: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27089972/ 10/10

So if dizziness is your ONLY post-COVID symptom, you could ask your GP to check your eardrum during nasal respiration. If it moves, placing a ventilation tube may work. If afterwards your eye muscles become painful, vestibulo-visual rehabilitation may work. 9/10

The good news is that vestibular asthenopia (tired and painful eyes, difficulty “scrolling” on screens) can also be fixed, by specialized vestibulo-visual rehabilitation. Which involves a rotating chair and weird 3D patterns…: 8/10

Vestibular asthenopia - PubMed Vestibular asthenopia, analogous to visual asthenopia, is a sensory (or sensory-motor) discomfort consisting of a set of subjective symptoms, the expression of which is essentially visual and whose or...

Yet, during these 6 months, the brain started “ignoring” the vestibular system, and learned to only rely on the eyes for balance. As soon as the vestibular system worked again, this caused something known as “vestibular asthenopia”: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34556339/ 7/10

The treatment was remarkably simple: placing a ventilation tube, to counteract the movement of the eardrum. After 6 months, the dizziness instantly disappeared. 6/10

In this particular patient (me), dizziness only occurred during breathing. It turned out that the “open” eustachian tube made the eardrum move, triggering the inner ear (vestibular system), causing dizziness. 5/10

The eustachian tube is a connection between your nose and ear. It is typically closed, and only opens briefly to equalize pressure (e.g. when you’re flying). But sometimes it stays open: a patulous eustachian tube. 4/10

Quick summary: COVID-19 can cause dizziness by triggering a “patulous eustachian tube”, which can be fixed by placing a ventilation tube in your eardrum. Wait, a patulous what…? 3/10

Disclaimer: we think that cases like this are rare. Yet, if you do suffer from this, the good news is that the cause of dizziness could be easily fixed by an ear nose and throat doctor (and some specialized vestibular physiotherapy). 2/10

For people that suffer from post-COVID-19 dizziness (as their ONLY symptom), this case report may be of interest to you: casereports.bmj.com/content/18/6.... A tale from personal experience… 1/10

Absolutely, see my previous thread on this: bsky.app/profile/drde...

YouTube video by MECFS Research Foundation Jeroen den Dunnen | International ME/CFS Conference 2025: Autoimmunity as a cause of ME/CFS

All presentations of the #mecfsconference are now online! Thanks again to @scheibenbogen.bsky.social for organizing this, and bringing so many experts together. Check out the videos at: events.mecfs-research.org/en/events/co.... #MECFS #LongCovid
www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4m4...

My team is very much looking forward to join the @keystonesymposia.bsky.social on #LongCovid and other PAIS (2 talks, 3 posters). Organized by @virusesimmunity.bsky.social @ahandvanish.bsky.social on Aug 10-13 2025 in Santa Fe: www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...

YouTube video by Jeroen den Dunnen Amsterdam UMC Long-COVID clinical trial immunoadsorption

As presented at the International ME/CFS Conference 2025 #mecfsconference, in the @amsterdamumc.bsky.social we will start a clinical trial testing immunoadsorption in Long-COVID. More information about that in this movie: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE7A... #LongCOVID #MECFS #ZonMw

And finally, all the great people I’ve met at this great conference, including @scheibenbogen.bsky.social @putrinolab.bsky.social, Rob Wust, @tronstadlab.bsky.social, Chris Puta, David Systrom, Yehuda Shoenfeld, Oystein Fluge, Alan Cash, and so many more. Let's crack this puzzle 😊. 7/7

Fifth, poster prize winner and young talent Anouck Slaghekke (team Rob Wust), showing microvascular dysfunction and basal membrane thickening in skeletal muscle, in both ME/CFS and Long-COVID. 6/7

Fourth, Alan Cash showing data that oxaloacetate can improve symptoms in a subset of ME/CFS patients. Yet keep in mind that even though it’s a supplement, the advice is to use this under medical supervision. 5/7

Third, the very promising data from Oystein Fluge, who showed pilot data with daratumumab (anti-CD38, depleting plasma cells), which improved symptoms in 6/10 ME/CFS patients. Really looking forward to the follow-up study! 4/7

Second, Franziska Sotzny showing data on molecular mimicry, with patients expressing antibodies against EBV that also recognize human proteins, particularly those expressed in the brain. 3/7

First of all, this quote from
@scheibenbogen.bsky.social: “The most expensive thing we can do is not fund biomedical research and trials." Nothing to add there... 2/7

I’m really impressed by the high level of research that was presented at the International ME/CFS Conference 2025 #mecfsconference, organized by the great @scheibenbogen.bsky.social: events.mecfs-research.org/en/events/co.... I’ll mention a few (personal) highlights: 1/7

YouTube video by ME Centraal 12/28 Jeroen den Dunnen: 4 - Ernstige ME & hoop voor de toekomst

The final part of the ME/CFS interview is now online, where we discuss the overlap with PAIS, potential drug treatments, and our most promising research so far: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZra.... Powered by @mecentraal.bsky.social and @amsterdamumc.bsky.social.

YouTube video by ME Centraal 11/28 Jeroen den Dunnen: 3 - Het metabolisme

In video number 3 of the #MECFS interview we zoom in on viral persistence, the microbiome, hormones, and allergy. And I speculate a little on potential mechanisms that could underlie PEM: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv1v.... Kudos again to @mecentraal.bsky.social and @amsterdamumc.bsky.social.

YouTube video by ME Centraal 10/28: Jeroen den Dunnen 2 autoimmuniteit & pathogenen

Video number 2 of the interview on #MECFS just came online, where we zoom in on autoimmunity and infections: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cdf.... Again thanks to @mecentraal.bsky.social and @amsterdamumc.bsky.social.

It was such a pleasure to have @resiapretorius.bsky.social over @amsterdamumc.bsky.social! Happy to see the #microclots assays worked right away 😀. We can now screen and select #LongCovid patients, to see whether we can also detect microclots using total body PET scan (powered by #ZonMw).

YouTube video by ME Centraal 9/28 Jeroen den Dunnen: 1 - Introductie & onderzoek

In a series of 4 video’s, I was interviewed about our work on #MECFS and post-acute infection syndromes #PAIS (in Dutch). Part one is now online, the others will follow in the next weeks. Big thanks to @mecentraal.bsky.social and the NMCB for arranging this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=em9e...

Transfer of IgG from Long COVID patients induces symptomology in mice SARS-CoV-2 infections worldwide led to a surge in cases of Long COVID, a post-infectious syndrome. It has been hypothesized that autoantibodies play a crucial role in the development of Long COVID and...

(2) Post-Acute Infection Syndromes (#PAIS), such as #LongCOVID and #MECFS, where we identified a causal role for autoimmunity, since transfer of antibodies from patients causes symptoms in mice: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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YouTube video by Jeroen den Dunnen How Coronavirus causes severe COVID-19: abnormal antibody responses

(1) #COVID19, where we identified that aberrant antibody responses are a main cause of hyper-inflammation in severe COVID-19, as explained in this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2hH....

Link to one of the papers: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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It’s about time I activate my account on BlueSky. Hi everyone, I’m Jeroen den Dunnen, immunologist and Head of Department @amsterdamumc.bsky.social. I study the function of antibodies in many diseases, but recently I’m mostly known for my work on:
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