A potential wave of COVID-linked brain damage

Lahore, 8th July: Recently, scientists alarmed people of a potential wave of coronavirus-related brain damage based on new evidence. It suggested that COVID-19 can result in neurological complications, including inflammation, psychosis, and delirium.

University College London (UCL) conducted a study of 43 cases of patients with COVID-19 who had suffered from either temporary brain dysfunction, strokes, nerve damage, or other serious brain effects.

This research builds onto recent studies which support that this disease damages the brain.

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Michael Zandi, from UCL’s Institute of Neurology, who co-led the study said, ‘Whether we will see an epidemic on a large scale of brain damage linked to the pandemic – perhaps similar to the encephalitis lethargica outbreak in the 1920s and 1930s after the 1918 influenza pandemic – remains to be seen.’

The disease, COVID-19, is majorly a respiratory illness that affects the lungs, but neuroscientists and specialist brain doctors have found out that the impact of this disease is very concerning as well.

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A neuroscientist, Adrian Owen, working at Western University in Canada, told Reuters in an interview, ‘My worry is that we have millions of people with COVID-19 now. And if in a year’s time we have 10 million recovered people, and those people have cognitive deficits … then that’s going to affect their ability to work and their ability to go about activities of daily living.’

In the UCL study, published in the journal Brain, nine patients with brain inflammation were diagnosed with a rare condition called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) which is usually seen in children and can be triggered by viral infections.

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The team commented that it was normal to see at least one adult patient with ADEM per month at their specialist London clinic. However, this rose to at least one adult patient a week during the study period, something they described as a ‘concerning increase.’

Ross Paterson, who co-led the study shared, ‘Given that the disease has only been around for a matter of months, we might not yet know what long-term damage COVID-19 can cause.’ He further continued, ‘Doctors need to be aware of possible neurological effects, as early diagnosis can improve patient outcomes.’

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Owen said that the emerging evidence highlights the need for large, detailed studies and global data collection to judge the frequency of such neurological and psychiatric complications.

Owen is running an international research project at covidbrainstudy.com where patients can sign up to fill in various cognitive tests to see whether their brain functions have altered since getting COVID-19.

Owen said, ‘This disease is affecting an enormous number of people, that’s why it’s so important to collect this information now.’

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