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Covid-related brain injury can be present following even mild illness

Results of a new study using primates concludes that injury to the brain from Covid-19 infection can be present even after mild illness.

NEW ORLEANS (CN) — Brain injuries that result from Covid-19 infections, such as small bleeds and intense inflammation, are present in primates who have been infected, even when the infections were mild, according to a new study published Friday.

This new finding from researchers at Tulane University was published in an article in the science journal, Nature Communications.

It is the first of its kind to look in-depth at how Covid-19 affects the central nervous system. The findings could potentially have enormous implications for how brain issues related to Covid-19 are approached and treated going forward and are hoped to shed light on long Covid.

Tracy Fischer, lead investigator and professor of microbiology and immunology at the Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington, Louisiana, has been studying brains for decades. During a phone call Thursday, Fischer said the latest research from the primate lab is “exciting” because of the possibilities her discoveries present for both better understanding Covid-19 brain injuries and seeking to correct them.

After the primate center began its Covid-19 pilot program in the spring of 2020, Fischer began studying the brain tissue of several subjects that had been infected.

Her initial findings that documented the extent of damage seen in the brain due to Covid-19 infection were so startling that she spent the next year further refining the study controls to ensure that the results were clearly linked to the infection.

“Because the subjects didn’t experience significant respiratory symptoms, no one expected them to have the severity of disease that we found in the brain,” Fischer said in a statement. “But the findings were distinct and profound, and undeniably a result of the infection.”

Fischer’s findings are consistent with autopsy studies of people who have died of Covid-19, which leads researchers to believe that primates can present an appropriate model for how humans experience the disease.

“What’s exciting about the work is we are able to see that there is injury in animals that didn’t even experience respiratory disease as part of their Covid infection, and that’s exciting because now we have a model to explore this further,” Fischer said in the phone interview.

Neurological complications, including headaches, brain fog and confusion, are commonly among the first symptoms of a Covid-19 infection and are frequently the most severe and persistent, affecting people indiscriminately — across all ages, with and without preexisting medical issues, and with varying degrees of disease severity.

But doctors still don’t fully understand how the disease affects the brain during infection. One thing Fischer has observed that is different from other viruses she’s studied, including for instance, HIV, is that the Covid-19 is not frequently found in the brain.

“We don’t see a lot of virus in the brain here,” she said.

This leads Fischer to question if possibly the neurological issues presenting in those infected with the virus may not be from the illness itself so much as from the body’s response to it, such as arteries narrowing or blocking altogether, which in turn would cut off oxygen to the brain.

Knowing specifically how the issues present will help determine whether they will self-correct, or whether corrective actions are necessary.

Fischer’s findings are the first comprehensive assessment of neurology associated with Covid-19 infection in a nonhuman primate model.

Fischer and her team found severe brain inflammation and injury consistent with reduced blood flow and oxygen to the brain, including neuron damage and death. They also found small hemorrhages.

She said she hopes that this and future studies into Covid-19 and how it affects the brain will contribute to the understanding and treatment of patients suffering from the neurological consequences of Covid-19 and long Covid, which are generally persistent and can be life changing and extreme.

Modeling for this portion of Fischer’s research lasted a month and was concerned with the post-acute phase of an infection.

The next step is research into whether effects of an infection will heal themselves, or if intervention is necessary, and if so, what kind of intervention.  

“Moving forward, we’ll want to look at if the brain is able to heal from the impact of the acute-infection,” Fischer said. “That is still unclear.”

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Categories / Health, Science

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