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Brain damage and neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19

As more and more clinical data is collected by physicians treating SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus patients around the world, the extent and variety of symptoms associated with the infection are becoming better known. Recent clinical studies have notably highlighted the severity and frequency of neurological symptoms which, in some cases, can lead to significant brain damage.

A growing body of research shows that COVID-19 is linked to life-threatening brain damage and neurological problems. According to a study published in the journal Brain, some patients with coronavirus suffer from cerebral inflammation accompanied by episodes of delirium.

Other patients develop nervous system disorders like Guillain-Barré syndrome that can cause paralysis, while some have fatal strokes. ” We see things in the way COVID-19 affects the brain that we have never seen before with other viruses Says Michael Zandi. The researchers found that the neurological symptoms were not limited to patients with severe cases (those who require ventilation or additional oxygen).

Neurological disorders and delusions

The study authors examined 43 coronavirus patients aged 16 to 85 years. All were treated National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery from London between April 9 and May 15. Ten of these patients had severe brain swelling that was accompanied by delirium. A 55-year-old woman with no psychiatric history started acting weird three days after she got out of the hospital, according to her husband.

She donned and removed her coat several times, then began to have auditory and visual hallucinations, including saying that she could see lions and monkeys at home. Then, the patient developed Capgras syndrome, a psychiatric disorder in which a person thinks that a friend or family member has been replaced by an identical impostor.

Brain damage independent of the severity of the lung damage

Another dozen patients observed in the study had swelling in their central nervous system; one person in this group has died. Nine of these 12 patients were diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a rare type of inflammation that usually attacks the nerves of the brain and spinal cord of children after an infection such as mumps or measles.

CT scans showing cerebral infarction and pulmonary thromboembolism (patient 27, AD), as well as microhaemorrhages (patient 41, HE). Credits: Ross W. Paterson et al. 2020

The study authors reported that the number of ADEM cases in the hospital increased from one per month before the coronavirus pandemic to two or three per week in April and May. Seven other patients in the study were diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome; some have developed neurological symptoms up to three weeks after their other symptoms. Overall, the researchers found that the life-threatening neurological conditions were not necessarily linked to severe respiratory symptoms in the patients.

On the same subject : Coronavirus; infection can also cause neurological symptoms

Eight patients in the study – including a 27-year-old woman with mild symptoms of coronavirus – had strokes from blood clots in their brains. Other recent research has also revealed that even young patients with mild cases of COVID-19 can have complications from blood clots such as strokes.

Stroke and delayed onset of neurological symptoms

In April, a group of doctors in New York City reported that five coronavirus patients in their 30s and 40s, most of whom had no medical history, had life-threatening strokes and had to go. to the hospital. Likewise, a study involving 214 patients in three hospitals in Wuhan found that 36% had neurological symptoms such as impaired consciousness or cerebrovascular disease, including stroke. However, this research has not yet been peer reviewed.

Zandi’s team and other researchers are concerned that some brain damage problems may not show up for a while after patients leave the hospital. This is similar to a phenomenon observed in the decades following the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic: between 1917 and the 1930s, more than a million people were diagnosed with lethargic encephalitis, or “sleeping sickness ” The disorder, caused by swelling of the brain, resulted in excessive drowsiness and severe neurodegeneration which made some patients disabled.

Sources : Brain

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