A new study suggests that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can hide in the brain of the infected person and cause relapses in patients who appear to be recovering.
In a study published by the magazine on Tuesday Viruses, researchers from Georgia State University found that mice infected with the virus through their noses developed serious illness due to brain infection, even after the virus left their lungs. Mukesh Kumar, lead researcher and co-author of the study, suggested that the findings may explain why human patients who almost look over the disease sometimes relapse and die quickly.
“The brain is one of the regions where viruses like to hide,” Kumar said in a press release. “That’s why we see serious diseases and all these multiple symptoms like heart disease, stroke and all these elongated ones with loss of smell, loss of taste … It all has to do with the brain rather than with the lungs.”
The study found that the virus in the brains of mice is at a level 1,000 times higher than any other body part. While the levels of the virus in the lungs began to decrease after three days of infection, the virus remained at the highest level in the brain on the fifth and sixth day, when the course of the disease got worse.
“We think it’s more of a respiratory disease is not necessarily true,” Kumar said. ‘Once it infects the brain, it can affect anything, because the brain controls your lungs, the heart, everything. The brain is a very sensitive organ. It’s the central processor for everything. ‘
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In addition to COVID-19, Kumar suggests that the coronavirus that reaches the brain may leave patients susceptible to other serious health problems in the future, including neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis, along with general cognitive decline and autoimmune diseases.
“It’s scary,” he said. “A lot of people think they got COVID and that they recovered and now they’re out of the woods. Now I feel like that’s never going to be true. You may never be out of the woods.”
Neurological symptoms are known to be relatively common in people with COVID-19. Although multiple studies have suggested that mice’s brains are susceptible to infection by the virus, research has not provided conclusive evidence to support the notion that the virus infects and concentrates in human brains. Neurological symptoms can be caused by an immune response rather than a direct brain infection.
In a blog entry posted last week by the National Institutes of Health Director, Dr. Francis Collins, written, is a recent study by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in which brain damage was found in tissue samples from 19 people who died from COVID-19 but there is no evidence. that the virus has infected the brain tissue itself.
“The findings are particularly intriguing because there is a suggestion based on studies in mice that SARS-CoV-2 can cross the blood-brain barrier and penetrate the brain,” Collins wrote before noticing that another study, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, found evidence of the virus in the brains of three people who died from COVID-19 complications.
‘Clearly more research is needed, ” Collins added. “As we learn more about the many ways COVID-19 causes body destruction, it’s important to help people understand the neurological symptoms.