Long COVID Is Not Linked to Ongoing Infection or Active Brain Damage

 But what about these from regular COVID? Does anyone actually keep up-to-date on the research in their field? I guess not.

 Study found long-term brain damage associated with COVID-19, not vaccine | Fact check

Long COVID may progress into neurodegenerative disease April 2023

Severe COVID-19 is associated with molecular signatures of aging in the human brain December 2022

 Scientists discover how COVID-induced brain "fog" (i.e., brain damage) may occur

 July 2022

NIH study shows immune response to COVID-19 may damage brain July 2022

Multivariate profile and acute-phase correlates of cognitive deficits in a COVID-19 hospitalised cohort May 2022 

20 years of cognitive aging in severe COVID-19, that I would consider brain damage, and you couldn't find that?

 

Earlier research has these reports:

1. The researchers observed that, in slices of hamster brain, SARS-CoV-2 blocks the functioning of receptors on pericytes, causing capillaries in the tissue to constrict. “It turns out this is a big effect,” says Attwell.

2. Evidence has also accumulated that SARS-CoV-2 can affect the brain by reducing blood flow to it — impairing neurons’ function and ultimately killing them.

3. A new study offers the first clear evidence that, in some people, the coronavirus invades brain cells, hijacking them to make copies of itself. The virus also seems to suck up all of the oxygen nearby, starving neighboring cells to death.

The latest here:

 Long COVID Is Not Linked to Ongoing Infection or Active Brain Damage

Post COVID-19 condition, also known as long COVID, does not appear to be linked to direct viral invasion of the brain or active brain damage, according to a study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The study included 25 people with confirmed post-COVID condition, 6 people without residual symptoms

after COVID-19, and 17 control subjects who were completely free of COVID-19.

The strength of the study lies not in the number of participants, which is fairly limited, but in the fact that they all -- including the control subjects -- underwent not only blood tests but also lumbar punctures to collect cerebrospinal fluid.

At the time when the samples were taken, at least 3 months had passed since the first symptoms of COVID-19 in those who had had the disease. The samples were taken between February and November 2021, and were analysed for a total of 37 different biomarkers.

Notably, the blood and cerebrospinal fluid analyses showed that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antigens were undetectable in all samples. Additionally, there were no significant differences between the groups when analysing blood and cerebrospinal fluid for immune activation or brain injury markers.

The findings thus suggest that post-COVID condition is not the result of ongoing infection, immune activation, or brain damage.

“The findings enhance our understanding of post-COVID conditions,” said Nelly Kanberg, University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg, United Kingdom. “The results suggest that the condition is more likely a consequence of events that occur during the acute phase of COVID-19, rather than an ongoing viral infection or persistent inflammation of the central nervous system.”

The extent to which post-COVID condition can be linked to the body’s inflammatory response during the actual infection is unclear. Many studies are currently being carried out around the world, including on risk factors for post-COVID conditions.

“In order to improve the care and quality of life for those who experience long-term neurological symptoms after COVID-19, we need to understand the underlying causes of post-COVID condition,” said Kanberg. “This study provides new insights into the condition, and can thus represent a valuable contribution to ongoing discussions and research.”

Reference: https://academic.oup.com/jid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/infdis/jiad395/7328977

SOURCE: University of Gothenburg