Scientists link COVID-19 to brain damage, disorders

Scientists have linked COVID-19 virus to brain damage and disorders in people with mild symptoms.

The research published in the journal brain revealed a rise in a life-threatening condition called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (adem).

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Scientists have warned doctors may be missing signs of serious and potentially fatal brain disorders triggered by coronavirus. Photo: CDC.
Source: UGC

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The first wave of infections were reported in Britain with cases rising from one a month before the outbreak of the pandemic to two or three per week in April.

One woman aged 59 has died from the condition as the report showed a dozen patients had inflammation of the central nervous system while 10 more had brain disease with delirium or psychosis.

Eight had strokes and a further eight had peripheral nerve problems, mostly diagnosed as guillain-barré syndrome, an immune reaction that attacks the nerves and causes paralysis with a 5% fatality rate.

“We’re seeing things in the way COVID-19 affects the brain that we haven’t seen before with other viruses.What we’ve seen with some of these Adem patients, and in other patients, is you can have severe neurology, you can be quite sick, but actually have trivial lung disease,”Michael Zandi, a senior author on the study and a consultant at the institute and University College London Hospitals NHS foundation trust said.

Zandi said adem had potential to leave patients with affected long-term disability but some can recover.

“Biologically, adem has some similarities with multiple sclerosis, but it is more severe and usually happens as a one-off. Some patients are left with long-term disability, others can make a good recovery,”said Zandi.

The report described one case of a 55-year-old woman who tested positive for the disease but behaved “abnormally” after she was discharged.

The woman repeatedly put her coat on and took it off again and began to hallucinate, saying she she saw monkeys and lions in her house.

The victim was was readmitted to hospital and gradually improved on antipsychotic medication.

The first cases of COVID-19 was reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019.

Since then, the virus spread rapidly and had infected at least 11.9 million people as of Wednesday, July 8.

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