New Delhi, October 8 (IANS). A new study on Tuesday revealed that damage to the brain’s ‘control center’, or brainstem, is behind the long-lasting physical and mental effects of severe COVID-19 infection.
Researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford used high-resolution scanners to look at the harmful effects of Covid in the brains of 30 people with severe infection early in the pandemic. Through this scanner, detailed description of the brain can be done.
Their results, published in the journal Brain, revealed how COVID-19 affects brain stem areas associated with shortness of breath, fatigue and anxiety.
“The brainstem is a vital junction box between our consciousness and what happens in our body,” said Professor James Rowe, from the Department of Clinical Neuro Sciences, who co-led the research.
“The ability to see and understand how the brainstem changes after COVID will help us understand and treat long-term effects more effectively,” Rowe said.
At the beginning of the pandemic, many hospitalized patients experienced troubling symptoms of fatigue, shortness of breath and chest pain.
The team hypothesized that these symptoms were partly caused by damage to a part of the brain. This state of brain damage persists long after the infection has passed.
The research found that these abnormalities were found in several areas of the brain’s nerve center (brainstem) – the medulla oblongata, pons and midbrain – which are associated with neuroinflammatory responses.
Dr. Katrina Rua of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences said that these effects were more pronounced in people who were suffering from severe Covid-19.
The team said the results could also help understand other brain conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and dementia.
–IANS
MKS/AS
