Even Mild Covid Can Cause Brain Damage, Study Suggests

A study published in Nature on Monday sheds light on what could be behind the symptoms of long Covid and common symptoms associated with infections.

Brain scans taken before and after a coronaviruses infection revealed significant brain changes, according to a U.K. study.

The scans were taken an average of 34 months apart and 141 days after the diagnosis with Covid-19.

The researchers found that the participants who tested positive for the disease had a worse cognitive decline than those who did not.

The researchers found that the changes to cognitive and brain after infections were still significant even after the participants had been hospitalized.

Most of the brain-related studies of Covid-19 have focused on hospitalized patients with severe disease.

The brain changes are permanent. Less than 20% of participants had tested positive more than six months ago, even though the study found no link between brain deterioration and time between infections. Researchers said follow-up studies are needed to determine whether the negative consequence of a Covid-19 infection will persist over time, promote other changes to brain structure in the long term, or if the impact is significant. The study can't determine the cause of the brain changes. The availability of scans before infections meant they were able to see differences over time, helping to rule out any pre-existing brain differences.

There is strong evidence that Covid-19 affects the brain and nervous system. The loss of smell and taste is one of the hallmarks of early infections, but the exact mechanisms were not well understood. The symptoms of long Covid, including brain fog, fatigue, memory impairment, and headaches, are caused by the coronaviruses, though the exact drivers of this are not well understood. The importance of vaccine and prevention in managing the Pandemic is underscored by a new study that shows the mental toll of the epidemic and the potential consequences in groups at low risk of serious illness.

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A study found that mental illness risk was even higher after covid infections.