COVID-19 is persistently infecting more people, and scientists are getting a closer look at autopsies' revelation of the "strange and frightening damage" the disease can inflict on human bodies.
It's been known since the onset of this pandemic that COVID-19 wreaks havoc beyond the respiratory system, also resulting in gastrointestinal conditions, heart impairment, and blood clotting.
Now, one year into the global health crisis, the said autopsies of COVID-19 patients have presented greater details of more prevalent inflammation and damage in brain tissues.
This may help explain the deluge of neurological symptoms manifesting in some patients ranging from headaches, loss of memory, dizziness, weakness and hallucinations, to more severe conditions like strokes and seizures.
Traces of Brain Virus
While other studies have found traces of the virus in the brain, the levels are low and seem to be infrequent or rare. So far, Nath elaborated, their findings suggest that the impairment they saw may not have resulted from the SARS-CoV-2 virus directly infecting the brain.
Instead, such damage maybe because of the inflammatory response of the body to the virus. Due to the low sample size and limited clinical data, the team said they cannot draw any direct conclusions just yet.
However, their results align with EEG examinations showed encephalopathy in COVID-19 patients, disturbances in the usual electrical activity of the brain that can indicate swelling and inflammation.
Furthermore, it aligns too with the studies that show the infection can stimulate other dangerous immune reactions that, in certain circumstances, lead to even more danger compared to the virus itself has, directly. This particular study came out in the New England Journal of Medicine.
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