We all know that COVID-19 has myriad health impacts, ranging from the lungs and heart to other areas of the body. But new symptoms and patients have revealed that it can also affect cognitive function.
This was first noticed in patients after they returned to their daily lives and began experiencing side effects like loss of memory, bad mood, anxiety, among other symptoms that suggested brain damage had occurred. The symptoms were similar to those seen in patients of other neurological diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
COVID-19 most likely causes these changes because of the immune response to the virus. When the immune system fights a virus, one of the cells it releases is an inflammatory cell. These are released into the bloodstream, and when they end up in the brain for a prolonged time, it can cause neurons to die, block capillaries, and create other side effects. In addition, the virus can also infect brain cells directly, also causing them to die.
Brain damage has been seen to be most impactful on those with long fights with the virus, since prolonged sickness increases the amount of inflammation that occurs. Scientists have yet to find a definitive way to stop these effects, but antivirals like Remdesevir can help patients recover more quickly, and other drugs target specific areas in the brain. Researchers hope to be able to study these effects from the coronavirus to dig deeper into neurodegenerative diseases.
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