(ORDO NEWS) — A new study has shown that infection with SARS-CoV-2, regardless of the severity of the disease, can lead to inflammation of the nervous tissue and minor bleeding, which explains many neurological symptoms.
COVID-19 can cause many very dangerous complications, including neuroinflammation and bleeding in the brain: scientists came to these conclusions based on studies in mice and observations in humans
The team’s first work showed that COVID-19 causes small hemorrhages in the brains of mice. Scientists were able to get these conclusions at the very beginning of the pandemic, but the medical community was then skeptical about them. At that time, the neurological symptoms caused by these hemorrhages had not yet been found in humans.
The scientists spent another year testing these initial findings as other researchers began to find evidence of similar neurological symptoms in humans. Control animals were studied and research protocols were refined to confirm that the initially detected brain changes were associated with coronavirus infection.
How COVID-19 causes inflammation and bleeding
Along with minor bleeding, the researchers found severe widespread brain inflammation and neuronal damage.
These injuries were not related to the severity of the infection, which means that many animals with mild symptoms of COVID-19 may also have had severe neurological complications after the illness.
“This was observed in all infected animals, regardless of the severity of the disease, suggesting that reduced oxygen levels in the brain may be a common complication of the infection,” the authors of the new work conclude.
“Even a slight but steady decrease in oxygen can cause damage, especially to neurons, which are quite sensitive to this process.”
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