The mystery of brain fog in patients with persistent Covid has been revealed
Many patients with persistent Covid experience mental dullness, Difficulty concentrating, attention problems and memory loss.. This is the so-called brain fog, which is associated with endless difficulties in everyday life. Being a very recent and unknown creature, these people face misunderstanding from others. “But if nothing happens to you; “You can continue to work and lead a normal life,” they are often told. Now there is tangible evidence. A group of Irish scientists have just discovered pathological trait in the brain of sick people which may explain his cognitive impairment.
Finding specific treatments for long-term or persistent disease is proving challenging, which is not surprising given the complexity of the syndrome, which affects 10% of people infected with the SARS-CoV coronavirus. A person is considered to suffer from this if You still have symptoms more than 12 weeks after contracting Covid-19. . More than 200 different manifestations have been described, among which the most common are fatigue, difficulty breathing, problems with memory and attention, and pain in the joints or muscles.
Knowing the cause of cognitive problems associated with persistent Covid is the most direct way to develop specific and effective treatments.
Changes in the brains of people with persistent Covid
According to the results published by the Trinity College Dublin team in the journal Nature Neurosciencepatients with brain fog associated with persistent covid They changed a key structure of the brain: the blood-brain barrier.. It is a network of blood vessels and tissues made up of high-density cells that prevent toxic substances and pathogens from entering the brain. Thanks to this retaining wall, the brain can receive only the components it needs through the blood, which helps it remain intact and perform its functions correctly, which include cognitive functions such as memory or attention.
MRI scans of people with long Covid and brain fog reveal the presence of leaks in these blood vessels which are part of the blood-brain barrier. These leaks are not present in the brains of patients who suffer from persistent Covid but do not have any cognitive impairment.
“We were able to demonstrate for the first time that leaky blood vessels in the brain, along with an overactive immune systemmay be key factors in mental distress associated with persistent Covid,” said Matthew Campbell, head of genetics at Trinity College.
Finding effective treatments for brain fog
Once the cause of mental fog or confusion is known, the search for effective treatments has a specific purpose: in this case it will repair altered blood-brain barrier. Researchers hope to develop treatments that restore the integrity of the brain’s blood vessels.
This is not the first time this type of therapy has been proposed and actually researched. improve related memory leak to various neurological pathologies, such as post-viral syndromes (including persistent Covid) or Alzheimer’s disease.
It has been observed that age-related degradation of the brain’s blood-brain barrier may contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. Following this hypothesis, there are studies that begin with the idea that dementia can be prevented through treatments that re-close the blood-brain barrier and prevent the brain from being flooded with toxic substances in the blood.
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