Covid 19 May Infect Brain Cells and Cause Loss of Brain Tissue, Studies Say
- Dutch researchers have revealed that Covid-19 can impact brain cells by infecting them, leading to psychological and neurological issues
- The virus attacks the cytokines in the brain and although the virus itself stops rapidly spreading, this is still cause for concern
- A UK-based research team has revealed that issues can arise from the virus in terms of the grey matter in the brain
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Covid-19, according to Dutch researchers, can infect brain cells, ultimately leading to a possible trigger of neurological and psychological issues. The spread of the virus stops relatively quickly, which causes a limited amount of damage however, it triggers cytokines.
Cytokines are small proteins within the immune system that act as messengers. This is according to a microbiology journal in the US-based mSphere. When the Covid-19 virus became prominent, many sufferers complained about psychiatric and neurological disorders.
The disorders include headaches, memory problems, encephalitis and rare psychoses.
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According to BusinessInsider, UK Biobank conducted a study that drew data from Covid-19 survives that proved that there was a loss of grey matter. The long-term experiment involved around 782 volunteers.
The brain scans were compared before and after the pandemic with 394 Covid-19 survivors returning for follow-up scans and 388 other healthy volunteers making their way to the experiment.
The report explained that those who recovered from Covid-19 had shown a prominent impact of the virus in terms of cerebral matter in the brain with a loss of grey matter in parts of the brain.
Mental health issues seem to be a very large side-effect of Covid-19
Going back to the mental issues, EWN reported that Covid-19 survivors diagnosed with the aforementioned disorders showed symptoms within six months of contracting the virus. This is according to a study published by The Lancet Psychiatry Specialist journal.
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South Africa's Covid-19 cases are slowly going down while vaccination time is improving
Earlier, Briefly News reported that the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said that a total of 16 078 new Covid-19 cases were identified in South Africa on Thursday. This is lower than Wednesday's 17 493 cases recorded in 24 hours.
The NICD stated that the total number of lab-confirmed cases are now sitting on 1 877 143 with a 24.5% positivity rate. Gauteng is still the hardest-hit province in the country as it recorded 9 512 cases. The Western Cape recorded 1 912 new cases.
Vaccinations have finally crossed the 100 000 mark in South Africa with 115 016 new vaccines reported in the last day.
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Source: Briefly News
