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Once you test negative after a bout with COVID-19, it's a great idea to get a full health screening. This is especially important for people who are at risk for, or have, blood cancers like leukemia.

If you have blood cancer, you need to have a clear picture of how strong your immune system is, which is extra important if you have any symptoms of long COVID, experts say. That's because most leukemia treatments lead to some type of immunocompromise, meaning these patients have weakened immune systems and therefore have trouble fighting infections they have at the same time.

Several studies have also found a potential link between COVID and leukemia, based on patients having the disease shortly after having COVID.

A study from researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, along with Universidade Estadual do Maranhão, Centro Universitário Christus, and Universidade Federal do Ceará in Brazil, described how, after recovering from COVID, previously healthy young adults were diagnosed, respectively, with acute myeloid leukemia, T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome, which turns into acute myeloid leukemia about 50% of the time. Head over to WebMD to read the full story.