Research finds cause of persistent Covid symptoms

The long-lasting effects of Long Covid, including persistent Covid symptoms, are still being felt. Recently, a new study has clarified the apparent neurological effects or alterations in the brain caused by COVID-19, particularly in individuals who lost their sense of smell after their diagnosis.

A recent study published on Tuesday demonstrated that the long-term physical and psychological consequences of a severe COVID-19 infection are caused by damage to the brainstem, which is the brain’s “control centre.”

The detrimental effects of Covid were observed in the brains of 30 individuals who had been hospitalised early in the pandemic due to severe infection. The researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford employed ultra-high-resolution scanners, which can see the living brain in great detail.

Their findings, which were published in the journal Brain, provided insight into the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on brainstem areas linked to anxiety, exhaustion, and dyspnoea.
“The brainstem is the critical junction box between our conscious selves and what is happening in our bodies,” stated Professor James Rowe, who co-directed the study and is affiliated with the Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

“The ability to see and understand how the brainstem changes in response to Covid will help explain and treat the long-term effects more effectively,” Rowe noted.

Several individuals hospitalised to the hospital early in the pandemic had persistent symptoms of fatigue, dyspnoea, and chest pain.

The researchers postulated that these symptoms could be partially attributed to long-lasting damage to important brainstem nuclei caused by the virus.

The medulla oblongata, pons, and midbrain are three areas of the brainstem that the study discovered exhibit abnormalities that are consistent with a neuroinflammatory response.
These developed several weeks after being admitted to the hospital, in brain regions that control breathing. Increased anxiety and despair in Covid survivors has also been connected to alterations in the brainstem.

According to Dr. Catarina Rua of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, the effects “are over and above the effects of age and gender, and are more pronounced in those who had severe Covid-19.”

According to the team, the findings could also aid in the understanding of other disorders linked to brainstem inflammation, such as multiple sclerosis and dementia.

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