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Long Covid / ME/CFS and chronic diseases: Knowledge transfer can build bridges - e il mondo cambierá - and the world will change

The Challenge of a Turning Point – A Personal and Scientific Reflection

The Day Everything Changed

Suddenly, it was there — Day X, and nothing worked anymore. My life, which I had built with great passion and structure, was completely turned upside down.

As a strategic communication consultant, my work was far more than just a profession — it was an expression of my personality, my lived passion, and my commitment. With great care and dedication, I founded my company “MehrLot Digital” and established it as a brand. But suddenly, nothing was possible anymore.

A wave of severe health problems struck me with unexpected force:

• Severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)
• Visual disturbances, sudden and unexpected fainting spells, sleep disorders, and dizziness—leading to falls, bruises, and injuries
• Extreme inflammatory processes and an increase in allergies
• Orthostatic hypotension with cardiovascular complications
• Severely altered gut microbiome and breathing difficulties
• Tinnitus, speech disorders, and severe anaphylaxis
• Drug intolerances, some with life-threatening side effects
• Angioedema and rheumatic flare-ups

In 2022, I had to make the grave decision to give up my self‑employment entirely. I sold my beloved motorcycle and put my bicycle and hiking equipment into storage. But I always kept my camera, my canvas, my paint box, and my favorite books within reach — as reminders of my creativity and my wealth of ideas. They remained an open door for me, one that I knew I would return to someday.

Survival Strategies and My Path Back to Strength

For a long period, I had to focus on the immediate survival challenges. Even baking a tolerable gluten-free bread became a major obstacle because all familiar ingredients had suddenly become completely intolerable.

With countless failed baking attempts a mixture of rice flour, water, and cream of tartar, as no other ingredients were tolerable an exhausting phase began. A simple bread seemed impossible with only these three ingredients.

But my body benefited from the mental and emotional foundations I had built throughout my life:

• Mental strength and discipline
• A firm belief in healing and progress
• Survival instinct and patience

Today, I have become a true “water expert”, consciously drinking from various vessels, a water glass, espresso cup, wine glass, champagne flute, to give myself the feeling of fully participating in life.

Turning Challenges into Opportunities – Scientific Engagement Despite Illness

I did not let myself be defeated and began to analyze my challenges systematically, read countless studies, and painstakingly assembled the many individual puzzle pieces step by step. In 2024, I wrote my marketing thesis on “Personalized Medicine as a Societal Responsibility” at the German Academy for Management, and I also completed a diploma degree in Disaster Management at the Business Academy Vienna.

Despite my chronic burdens, I completed both degrees with excellence/very good, because the (global) numbers of steadily increasing chronically ill people speak for themselves and fueled my motivation.

Data That Drives My Motivation

The statistics speak for themselves and fuel my determination to find solutions:

• 400 million people worldwide are struggling with the long-term effects of Long COVID and ME/CFS with projections of over 1 billion affected individuals by 2033.
• 528.4 billion USD annually was attributed to illnesses and deaths due to non-optimized drug therapy in the U.S. in 2016 alone.
• The worldwide increase in neurological diseases (Alzheimer’s, dementia, migraines, strokes) has dramatic effects on emergency and crisis management, over 3.4 billion people suffered from nervous system diseases in 2021.
• The silent diabetes crisis, with 529 million affected globally, of which 96% suffer from largely preventable Type 2 diabetes.
• The increasing nearsightedness (myopia) epidemic among children is expected to exceed 740 million cases by 2050, impacting disaster preparedness and emergency response.
• The increase in cardiovascular diseases, multiple sclerosis, rising cancer incidence, and growing allergies and this does not even take into account the massive toxic exposures in conflict zones, to which civilians and emergency personnel are exposed every day and whose long‑term effects cannot yet be estimated in the slightest.
• The list could be extended much further, and every one of us knows that healthcare systems worldwide are under enormous pressure.
  

These developments clearly show that our societies are anything but resilient. Many hundreds of millions of people live with chronic illnesses, yet our global systems for disaster, crisis, and health management are not sufficiently prepared for this. This is precisely where I focus my work: developing resilience architectures that systematically integrate human physiology, vulnerability, exposure, and functional limits, thereby creating a foundation that is intended to meet the real challenges of our time.

All these numbers unfortunately reveal a harsh reality, because these countless chronic illnesses affect endurance, strength, concentration, reaction capability, thermoregulation, and tolerance to physical strain — all abilities that are essential in reconstruction efforts after conflicts and disasters.

Emergency personnel are themselves heavily burdened

• because they work in heat, pollutants, and toxic aerosols, and they too are not exempt from chronic illnesses
• they face staff shortages
• they are additionally endangered by toxic exposure in conflict zones

Performance limits are reached earlier, recovery times are longer and susceptibility to errors can increase.

The many toxic exposures are once again a global game‑changer in 2026:

• burned plastics
• heavy metals
• fine dust
• chemical warfare residues
• industrial chemicals
• microplastics
• contaminated soils and waters
• PFAS (“forever chemicals”) and PFOA: extremely persistent, hormonally active, detectable in soil, water, air, and protective clothing.
• Dioxins and furans: produced during fires, explosions, and industrial accidents; immunotoxic, carcinogenic, and accumulating in fatty tissue.
• Asbestos fibers from destroyed buildings, especially after bombardments, earthquakes, flood damage, and fires; highly respirable.
• Benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons: released during fuel fires, industrial incidents, destroyed vehicles, and munitions depots; strongly leukemogenic.
• Pesticide and herbicide clouds: caused by destroyed storage facilities, floods, war zones, and extreme weather events; neurotoxic and endocrine‑disrupting.
• Nanoparticles from modern materials, e.g., composites, batteries, solar panels, drones, electronics; penetrate deeply into the lungs, bloodstream, and nervous system.
• Lithium, cobalt, and nickel dust from destroyed batteries: released during fires involving e‑vehicles, drones, storage systems, solar installations, and infrastructure.
  Neurotoxic, irritating to the lungs, pro‑inflammatory, and an underestimated risk factor in crisis zones in 2026.
• Ammonia and nitrogen oxide (NOx) exposure from agriculture, explosions, and industrial plants: causes respiratory irritation, cardiovascular strain, and synergistically amplifies the effects of other pollutants.
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): produced during fires, explosions, fuel combustion, and destroyed infrastructure.
  Strongly mutagenic, carcinogenic, and immunosuppressive.
• Heavy‑metal‑laden ash and soot particles from building fires: containing lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium VI, among others; enter the body through inhalation and skin contact, are multisystemically toxic, and accumulate long‑term.
• VOCs (volatile organic compounds) from destroyed interiors, furniture, plastics, paints, adhesives — e.g., formaldehyde, toluene, xylene.
  Cause neurotoxicity, cognitive impairment, cardiovascular strain, and exacerbate symptoms in Long Covid, ME/CFS, and MCS.

Many of these substances are multisystemically toxic and exacerbate existing illnesses, and they affect emergency personnel, civilians, reconstruction teams and chronically ill individuals alike.

The “University of Hope” – An Interdisciplinary Concept for Global Resilience

From months of reflection and strategic planning, my University of Hope was born an initiative for developing new approaches, scenarios, and strategies for:

• Firefighters, emergency and crisis managers
• Police, military and rescue forces
• Chronically ill individuals (Long COVID, ME/CFS, MCS and many others)
• Healthcare professionals and critical infrastructure workers
• Societal resilience and awareness

Key questions I explored: What about first responders and frontline workers? 

How should emergency plans and preparations be adapted for those with chronic illnesses? 

How can checklists be adjusted to accommodate these overwhelming new challenges? 

How should AR training scenarios be developed for chronically ill emergency personnel? 

What role do environmental chemicals play in exacerbating health conditions? 

What about Pharmacogenomics (PGx) in disaster response?

Finding solutions, creating new strategies, and implementing real changes, that is my mission.

Addressing Critical Factors in Emergency Strategies

Many of those affected and first responders suffer from:

• Loss of the sense of smell or hearing
• Muscle weakness and vision problems
• Severe light and noise sensitivity
• Orthostatic hypotension and drug intolerances

These are aspects that must be urgently integrated into emergency response frameworks.

My passion for strategy development, communication, crisis management, environmental studies, and pharmacology led me to explore the works of Medical Medium (Anthony William), whose findings have impacted millions worldwide.

Additionally, for over 14 months, I have been an active member of the PK Forum led by Professor Eric Chan at the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, National University of Singapore. There, I contribute my own scientific analyses and case studies to the research community.

Furthermore, I am a member of the International Social Capital Association Incorporated, because in my view, a resilient society is impossible without a functioning social capital system, and I deeply appreciate the association’s work.

Knowledge Is the Key to Resilience and Innovation

My personal story is much more than just a “medical history,” because it shows that knowledge and scientific dedication can pave the way to new strength and innovation.

• Resilience emerges from interdisciplinary collaboration
• Crisis management must be tailored to both individual and societal needs
• Scientific networking enables sustainable solutions for global health crises

Through my University of Hope and my own interdisciplinary research, I strive to make a decisive contribution to a more resilient future.

Knowledge is not an abstract value for me, but an operational key to resilience, system innovation, and global capacity to act.

My path over the past years has not weakened me, but has led me into a new role: I work as an author, framework architect, mentor, and advisor, dedicating myself to the consistent development of system architectures that integrate complex risks, human factors, governance dynamics, and technological systems into a coherent whole.

Resilience can only emerge where disciplines are brought together.

From my work, it has become clear:

• Resilience is a daily interdisciplinary process and not a fixed state
• Crisis management must ALWAYS take individual, societal, and geopolitical realities into account
• Scientific networking is the foundation for sustainable and global solutions

With the University of Hope and my own research, I develop frameworks, models, and decision architectures that not only describe resilience but deeply operationalize it.

International cooperation as a foundation

As a member of the IEEE GRSS Disaster Management & Early Warning Working Group as well as the GRSS Biohazard & Vector EO Group, I work on the development of conflict‑ and crisis‑sensitive models such as:

• the Conflict‑Sensitive Geospatial Framework (CSGF)
• the BioHazard Fusion Matrix / Phytotox Index
• human health and outbreak diseases
• war scenarios and CBRN resilience pathways, wargaming / scenario planning
• EO/GIS and geospatial intelligence
• critical infrastructure and digital twin ecosystems
• zoonotic surveillance, pharmacokinetics, and biosensor strategies
• as well as other EO‑based, semantic, and governance‑sensitive architectures

My work combines geoscientific precision with human‑centered system design and integrates complex domains such as biohazard dynamics, CBRN resilience, critical infrastructures, digital twins, zoonoses, pharmacokinetics, and vulnerability research into robust decision architectures.

It is a special honor and joy for me to have been significantly involved as a founding member in the creation of IEEE GRSS PAR 4011 (2026). With PAR 4011, we aim to jointly address and implement global challenges in the multi‑hazard context.

My gratitude also goes especially to Ing. Hassan Abouseada (Chair of the IEEE GRSS DMEW Working Group, Egyptian Space Agency) and Dr. Siri Jodha Singh Khalsa (NSIDC), whose expertise and trust make this work possible.

Global Architecture Development: The Geo‑Resilience Framework

In parallel, I am building the Geo‑Resilience Framework — a global architecture in which my GeoResilience Compass anchors central concepts. The goal is to strengthen global resilience, interoperability, and decision‑making capacity across disciplines, sectors, and even continents.

“Security is not a state, but a process. Every idea, every analysis, and every collaboration shapes the future.”

With great gratitude, I also look back on my participation in the
Pracademic Emergency Management and Homeland Security Summit 2025 (Embry‑Riddle University Worldwide, Department of Emergency, Disaster and Global Security Studies), where I had the opportunity to present my strategic concepts and scenarios.

My presentation, “When your life is on the line: Optimized and comprehensive training, and the development of holistic 360‑degree approaches,” highlighted the balance between high‑tech innovation and human factors in emergency and disaster management. The conference brought together experts from 27 countries — science, education, emergency and security management, politics, and international organizations — united by a common goal: to actively shape the future of global resilience.

It was a wonderful mix of professionals and experts — scientists, educators, emergency and security managers, and political decision‑makers from 27 countries — all pursuing the same positive goal: to make our shared world safer and to actively shape the future of emergency and disaster management through collaborative solutions.

This two‑day global conference brought us together to develop forward‑looking solutions for crisis management, disaster resilience, and homeland security.

Building globally robust architectures

In close collaboration with Narasimha Sharma Narayanam, the founder and CEO of Aganitha Space, I contributed as a strategic co‑architect to the conception of the Coupled Hazard Index (CHI) — a framework designed to make complex, intertwined hazard situations visible, modelable, and manageable. My particular strength lies in developing and translating multidimensional risks into clear, manageable, and governance‑capable structures. This ability is a central component of Aganitha Space’s vision: an Earth Intelligence Operating System that is intended to support governments, emergency organizations, research institutions, and international bodies in making informed, rapid, and responsible decisions in an increasingly complex world.

As the architect of Systemic Resilience Logic and developer of the Geo‑Resilience Compass, I consistently integrate technical, institutional, and human factors into a coherent decision architecture — not only to strengthen the scientific foundation of the models, but also to expand the operational applicability of solutions in regions particularly affected by complex crises, conflicts, and multi‑hazard dynamics.

It is also a special pleasure and honor for me to support Professor Saied Pirasteh in his research and future project initiatives with my developed strategic system architectures, and I extend my heartfelt thanks for this wonderful, pleasant, and deeply trusting collaboration. Together, we will continue on this path.

I have now published several strategic frameworks and developed numerous concepts:

• The Global Learning Framework – A Common Language for Risk, Prevention, and Ecological Stability (Submarine Cable Focus) – GLOBAL MARITIME CABLE PROTECTION TRAINING PROGRAMME (GM CPTP), a globally deployable training architecture based on the Global Learning Framework (GLF)

• GEDI in Zoonotic Surveillance – An Epistemic Reflection Framework (GEDI in Zoonotic Surveillance – Governance Bridge between Earth Observation and One Health – Integrating Structural Visibility, Sensor Logic and Zoonotic Interfaces through a Cairo‑Based Scenario (and Icestorm in USA))

• Geospatial AI & Critical Infrastructure – A Framework for Responsible Agents
(Offshore, Arctic, Onshore, Digital Twins)

• Moonlight Resilience Compass – Paths to Hope and Strength for Children with Long Covid and ME/CFS (including a Moon Village concept for clinics and rehabilitation centers)

• “Semantic Integrity Framework for Disaster Imagery – A Modular Architecture for Visual Integrity in Global Disaster Management”
is available in English, German, and Italian.

• Black Swan Intelligence
• BioSens Africa/Global (BioSensScouts)
• new CBRN and wargaming concepts and much more …

such as “AI Friends? Protecting Children from Digital Attachment to AI,” which operationalizes ethical, semantic, and visual protection mechanisms for children in AI‑supported communication. At its core are the Adaptive Control Units (ACUs) — modular control units capable of detecting, visualizing, and regulating emotional closeness. Emotional attachment of children to AI systems is not a marginal phenomenon — it is an underestimated risk factor in global disaster management. Artificial intelligence is an integral part of modern communication and interaction systems — especially in crisis and disaster situations, where children often encounter digital interfaces first. The goal is not to marginalize AI systems and their role, but to develop robust, ethically sound concepts that also protect children in their emotional and semantic vulnerability.

In global disaster and emergency situations, AI systems are often the first accessible communication interface for children – particularly when human assistance is delayed or overwhelmed. Without controllable proximity mechanisms and semantic protection protocols, these systems can create emotional dependency that hinders real help and undermines the resilience of vulnerable groups. That is why we need new approaches to ensure that AI does not become a risk, but a resilient partner in protecting the most vulnerable.

This architecture is directly compatible with the “Semantic Integrity Framework for Disaster Imagery” for semantic safety and global resilience.

I also dedicate great attention to this topic and am working on concepts and new strategic approaches such as “Embodied Resilience: A Strategic Framework for Firefighter Leadership and Adaptive Operational Readiness” and “Resilience Structures in the Context of Global Zoonotic Threats (Application of EO/GEDI)”.

Another Milestone on My Journey – Research, Recognition, and Gratitude

“Security is not a state but a process. Every step, every idea, and every collaboration shapes the future.”

It is with gratitude and joy that I look back on having been given the opportunity to present my innovative strategic concepts and scenarios at the Pracademic Emergency Management and Homeland Security Summit 2025, organized by Embry-Riddle University Worldwide College of Arts & Sciences / Department of Emergency, Disaster and Global Security Studies.

I am grateful, inspired and deeply honored to have been a speaker at this global summit, where I addressed my lifelong passion "When your life is on the line, optimized and comprehensive training, as well as the development of holistic 360-degree approaches, is everything." Well-Prepared for Emergencies – A balance between high-tech innovation and human care.

This summit was a remarkable gathering of experts, including scientists, educators, emergency and security managers and policymakers from 27 countries, all driven by a shared, positive goal - To make our world safer and to actively shape the future of emergency and disaster management through collaborative solutions.

This two-day global conference united us in developing groundbreaking solutions for crisis response, disaster resilience, and homeland security.

Gratitude for the Journey That Is Far From Over

I look upon all that I have achieved with deep pride, but the road ahead is still long and I will continue with unwavering determination.

Above all, I am profoundly grateful to have walked this challenging and demanding path together with my beloved husband Cesare, who has always been by my side and has demonstrated immense strength in my most difficult moments.

From anaphylactic reactions and severe episodes to emergency breathing exercises and critical medical situations, we have overcome countless challenges together. Many obstacles still remain, but we continue this journey with courage.

Thank you, Tesoro!

I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our friends and to our dear sister Sigharda, who has become part of our family over the years.

A special thanks to Professor Eric, whose deep expertise and profound kindness I hold in high regard. I’d also like to thank my friends from around the world — Bob, Aurelian, Shivendra, Hassan, Tess, Yang, Abubakar, Samrat, and Mohamed — as well as the Finnish professor who selflessly analyzed my MRI images to help me.

Acknowledging Those Who Have Made a Difference

I am incredibly grateful to:

• My dedicated and compassionate dentist and her powerhouse team, who go to great lengths to ensure my safety
• Anthony William, whose books guided me in developing tailored strategies that significantly improved my symptoms
• Our Italian butcher Carlo
• Master baker Martin, who worked with me tirelessly to create a bread I could tolerate
• Our priest Michael, as well as my tutors at the German Academy for Management and the Vienna Business Academy, along with their always supportive student advisory team
• And of course, all others who have watched over me and ensured that I was not exposed to unnecessary dangers
• My deep and unwavering faith, which has carried me through all my challenges

A Special Thanks to My Furry Friends

And of course, a loving thank‑you also goes to our animal friends:

• Gastone, our neighbors’ dog
• Speedy and his little mouse family
• our garden hedgehog Charlie
• and all the feathered friends whose wonderful songs sweetened the days.

They all brought a beautiful smile to my face in moments that were not so pleasant, when my strength was no longer enough to leave the couch or the bed.
Each one of them was and still is — an important part of my life‑sustaining ecosystem, and for that I am endlessly grateful.

I wish you, from the bottom of my heart, all the very best, and may you stay as healthy as possible.

Pace e Bene!

Birgit