How COVID-19 can attack the brain and, in severe cases, cause permanent damage: Shot

The SARS-CoV-2 virus particles shown in red are heavily infected with cells in this colored scanning electron micrograph. SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that causes COVID-19.

NIAID / NIH / Flickr


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NIAID / NIH / Flickr

The SARS-CoV-2 virus particles shown in red are severely infecting cells in this colored scanning electron micrograph. SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that causes COVID-19.

NIAID / NIH / Flickr

Early in the pandemic, people with COVID-19 began to report strange symptoms: loss of odor and taste.

The reason was not congestion. For some reason, the SARS-CoV-2 virus appeared to affect the nerves that carry information from the nose to the brain.

It worried the neurologist.

“I was worried that SARSCoV-2 might invade my brain,” he said. Dr. Gabriel de Eraskin, Researcher at the Glenbigs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Texas at San Antonio Health Sciences.

Their fears have proven to be well-founded — although the damage may come from the body’s and brain’s response to the virus, not the virus itself.

Many patients admitted with COVID-19 are discharged with symptoms such as those associated with brain injury. These include “forgetting that impairs the ability to function,” says de Erausquin. “They complain that they are having a hard time organizing their work, and that involves things like being able to prepare meals.”

However, COVID-19 also seems to cause many other brain-related symptoms, from seizures to psychosis, Team Report In the January 5th issue of the journal Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Teams, including de Erausquin, say that severe COVID-19 may even increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

For many affected patients, brain function improves as they recover. However, some people are more likely to face long-term disabilities, says de Erausquin.

“Even if the percentages and percentages aren’t very high, the absolute number of people who suffer from these consequences can be high,” he says. Because so many people are infected.

Scientists are trying to understand many ways COVID-19 can damage the brain.

From the early days of the pandemic, it is clear that the infection can cause blood clots and stroke. Some patients suffer brain damage when their lungs are unable to supply enough oxygen.

However, to understand other less obvious mechanisms, scientists needed the brain tissue of a deceased COVID-19 patient.And the early days of the pandemic They say they couldn’t get that organization Dr. Avindra nath Of the National Center of Neurology and Neurology.

“People didn’t have autopsy in most places because it was such an infectious organism,” says Nath. They simply lacked a protective device that allowed the brain to be safely removed.

But that’s changing, says Nath, who was part of a team that studied the brain tissue of 19 COVID-19 patients.

The team saw extensive evidence of inflammation and injury, they report December 30 The· New England Journal of Medicine..

They also found a possible explanation for the damage.

“What we found was that a very small blood vessel in the brain was leaking,” says Nath. “And it wasn’t even — you’ll find small blood vessels here and small blood vessels there.”

Injuries resembled a series of small strokes that occurred in many different areas of the brain, says Nath.

This finding may explain why COVID-19 patients have such a wide range of brain-related symptoms, including those related to brain regions that control functions such as heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. there is.

“They are dissatisfied with the race of the heart,” he says, or “when they stand up, they are quite dizzy, or they may have urinary problems.”

Yet others report feeling extreme fatigue that can also be caused by a brain injury.

In addition, inflammation and vascular leakage associated with all these symptoms can make a person’s brain more vulnerable to other types of damage.

“We know that these are important in Alzheimer’s disease and play an important role in COVID-19,” said Heather Snyder, vice president of medical and scientific operations at the Alzheimer’s Association. .. “And what that means in later life, we now need to ask that question.”

Therefore, associations and researchers from more than 30 countries have formed a consortium to study the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain.The· effort Register those who have been hospitalized or who have already participated in the COVID-19 international research.

The findings from that study should help answer some important questions about what happens to COVID-19 patients after infection, Snyder says. Researchers evaluate a patient’s “behavior, memory, and overall function” every six months, she says.