Infection with the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus can not only manifest itself through fever, cough and difficulty breathing, but can also cause neurological symptoms. These are the current results of a study by Chinese scientists with patients from Wuhan. The city is considered the epicenter of the pandemic, from which the virus spread worldwide.
As the doctors report in the journal “JAMA Neurology”, a good third of the 214 patients they examined showed signs that the virus had damaged the nervous system. The most common symptoms included dizziness and headache, as well as olfactory and taste disorders.
New corona study: The most common symptoms are dizziness and headache
Reports of corona patients losing their sense of smell and taste, at least temporarily, had accumulated in the past few days. These symptoms indicated that the brain was involved, said infectiologist Bernd Salzberger from the Regensburg University Hospital. “So far, there have been very few examinations of the brain of corona patients. We are still in the dark. “
The study from Wuhan examined patient files, laboratory findings and radiological examinations of the approximately 214 study participants who had a proven Covid-19 disease. At Huazhong University of Science and Technology, neurologist Ling Mao and his team examined patient files, laboratory findings and radiological examinations of the approximately 214 study participants who had proven Covid-19 disease. Of the patients examined, 78 showed 36.4 percent neurological manifestations. These were the more serious, the more serious the Covid 19 disease was.
Most often, the doctors were able to identify these symptoms:
- Dizziness (36 patients, 16.8 percent)
- Headache (28 patients, 13.1 percent)
- Taste disorders (12 patients, 5.6 percent)
- Olfactory disorders (11 patients, 5.1 percent)
- Stroke (6 patients, 2.8 percent)
Respiratory arrest could be a result of neurological damage
Sars and also Mers – also diseases caused by a coronavirus – are known to cause damage to the nervous system. For both infections it has been experimentally proven that the virus can enter the brain via the olfactory nerves in the nasal cavity.
