British research shows that even people with mild Covid-19 have a small shrinking part of their brains.
Many people with Covid-19 with mild symptoms often feel comfortable and reassured because they do not need to be hospitalized for treatment.
However, research shows that brain scans have found even cases of Covid-19 can shrink part of the brain, causing physical changes equivalent to 10 years of aging. The exact cause of this problem is still unknown.
According to the India Times, some of the most convincing evidence of post-Covid-19 brain and neurological damage in people with mild illness comes from UK researchers. They studied brain changes before and after Covid-19 in the participants.
The study involved 785 participants, ages 51 to 81, who had their brains scanned before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. Then, on average, every 3 years, they had a brain scan. This is part of a medical project that scans for a disease-monitoring health database called the UK Biobank.
According to medical record data, 401 of these volunteers were infected with SARS-CoV-2. Most of the patients had mild infections, with only 15 requiring hospitalization.
The results showed that 4.5 months after contracting Covid-19 with mild symptoms, patients had lost an average of 0.2-2% of brain volume and had thinner gray matter than healthy people. Participants infected with SARS-CoV-2 took 8-12% longer in 2 tests measuring attention, visual inspection, and processing speed.
Jacques Hugon, a neuroscientist at the Lariboisiere Hospital of the University of Paris (France), said it remains unclear whether the brain will regenerate itself or if the patient will recover, even if consciousness has recovered. The damage caused by Covid-19 in the brain can also progress to various neurodegenerative disorders.
Covid-19 can trigger a severe immune response, leading to a cytokine storm that amplifies inflammation throughout the body. Long-term inflammation can promote cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.
Some scientists even fear that people who have recovered from Covid-19 may have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, based on evidence of a protein called beta-amyloid appearing in the brains of young patients who died from Covid-19.
Some studies also show evidence of SARS-CoV-2 entering the brain. In it, the study by the US National Institutes of Health illustrates how SARS-CoV-2 can spread beyond the lungs and respiratory tract. This suggests that the immune system’s inability to clear the virus from the body could be a potential cause of lingering Covid-19 symptoms, including brain fog.
@ Zing News
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Source: Vietnam Insider