From the article:
“…two new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine shed further light on the profound toll of COVID-19 on cognitive health.” And in other studies cases “with mild to moderate COVID-19 showed significant prolonged inflammation of the brain and changes that are commensurate with seven years of brain aging.”
I used to be able to eat spicy foods. After I got Covid everything tastes 5 times as spicy. Weird wild stuff.
Do other viruses do this too?
There are of course varying levels of inflammation so some are going to be worse than others. There are also different contributing factors, like high fevers that can also impact the brain in addition to the swelling.
So not completely unique to covid, but the way that it happens with covid is the concerning part.
Autopsy studies of people who had severe COVID-19 but died months later from other causes showed that the virus was still present in brain tissue. This provides evidence that contrary to its name, SARS-CoV-2 is not only a respiratory virus, but it can also enter the brain in some individuals. But whether the persistence of the virus in brain tissue is driving some of the brain problems seen in people who have had COVID-19 is not yet clear.
Um, scary TIL…
I wonder if this compounds in any way for people who’ve been infected multiple times.
From the article: " Reinfection with the virus contributed an additional two-point loss in IQ, as compared with no reinfection." So yes, there can be a compounding. It’s research like this that makes me want to keep my ‘mask, handwash, neti washing, indoor air filtration, avoid crowds indoors, etc’ policy in place. Sigh.
Thank you, I must’ve missed that part 😅
I agree with you there.
I think a lot of people who don’t care about the virus are the ones who should be the most concerned about these findings
I wonder if this compounds in any way for people who’ve been infected multiple times.
Yes it does. Every time someone gets infected, it does more damage. And a lot of that damage is essentially permanent. eg. damage to blood vessels, heart tissue etc.
Not a doctor so may be a stupid question, but wouldn’t the blood brain barrier protection stuff degrade or shut down when you die? Could it have leaked in after death?
One of the studies cited in the article found that COVID-19 damages (or can damage) the blood-brain barrier.
- COVID-19 can also disrupt the blood brain barrier, the shield that protects the nervous system – which is the control and command center of our bodies – making it “leaky.” Studies using imaging to assess the brains of people hospitalized with COVID-19 showed disrupted or leaky blood brain barriers in those who experienced brain fog.
Considering the number of people who end up with “brain fog” this seems a likely way for it to enter the brain.
Wut?
Brain fog bad. Brain fog damage last long time. Maybe forever.
Taking a shot in the dark.
What specifically are they finding to say covid was found in the brain? Can they tell the difference between covid vs vaccine in whatever they find?
I have a Facebook “friend” running the “they found vaccine spike proteins in the brain” line, and “they said it would only stay in the deltoids”. I’m imagining he confused the “vaccine should stay in the muscle” as opposed to the spike protein which I could see traveling with blood. As for finding it in the brain or heart, could we tell the difference? Would we?
COVID vaccines do not contain any COVID.
