Scientists warn of potential wave of covid-linked brain damage

[Redolent]

A study by researchers at University College London (UCL)described 43 cases of patients with COVID-19 who suffered either temporary brain dysfunction, strokes, nerve damage or other serious brain effects.

“We’re seeing things in the way Covid-19 affects the brain that we haven’t seen before with other viruses,” said Michael Zandi, a senior author on the study and a consultant at the institute and University College London Hospitals NHS foundation trust.

“What we’ve seen with some of these Adem patients, and in other patients, is you can have severe neurology, you can be quite sick, but actually have trivial lung disease,” he added.

In the UCL study, published in the journal Brain, nine patients who had brain inflammation were diagnosed with a rare condition called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) which is more usually seen in children and can be triggered by viral infections.

The team said it would normally see about one adult patient with ADEM per month at their specialist London clinic, but this had risen to at least one a week during the study period, something they described as “a concerning increase”.

“My worry is that we have millions of people with COVID-19 now. And if in a year’s time we have 10 million recovered people, and those people have cognitive deficits ... then that’s going to affect their ability to work and their ability to go about activities of daily living,” Adrian Owen, a neuroscientist at Western University in Canada, told Reuters in an interview.

The potential long term effects of Covid do seem cause for concern. If many people who are considered recovered do actually end up having debilitating health issues requiring ongoing care, then it is going to end up a huge issue.

Warning of serious brain disorders in people with mild coronavirus symptoms
Doctors may be missing signs of serious and potentially fatal brain disorders triggered by coronavirus, as they emerge in mildly affected or recovering patients, scientists have warned.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/08/warning-of-serious-brain-disorders-in-people-with-mild-covid-symptoms

From what I’ve observed, many people think it doesn’t matter what the disease does to you as long as it’s not death.

If we’d known about HIV at this stage of its epidemic we’d have said ‘5 days of mild flu-like illness followed by recovery’.

And increasingly we’re recognising that covid is a multi-system disorder more akin to HIV, syphilis or polio, than it is to flu.

@Redolent 100%

Which is why it pays to keep reading and not rush to the pub just because you're allowed to!

Not rushed to the pub just because you're allowed to
very true but it was the government that make the decision to allow us to go to the pub, wouldn't you think we should be able to trust them to be more cautious?

or maybe the government don't actually care about the health and wellbeing of the people
maybe the government put their efforts towards throwing whomever they can under the bus so they can look after themselves and their rich friends:(

Added to that, the scientists in February warning it might be airborne were likely right. I don't see how we can 'just get back to normal' or 'learn to live with the virus'

At the very least people should be wearing masks inside.

Agree. The more I read about this virus the more I’m determined to do what it takes to avoid it. That said, my husband is waiting on a Covid test result at the moment. We’ve been ridiculously careful, so I’m hoping it’s negative.

I am very concerned at the way we are talking about this disease. We know nothing and it is uncertain. We need a government who can manage that.

I am worried that the long-term effects like these could affect a lot of working age people.

For me as an individual, a recession of ten years is not as scary a prospect as some of the side effects of covid (I am not in the risk category for death) and no info can be given on whether I might suffer those effects.

How can we weigh the situation?

I feel terribly sad that some of our doctors, nurses, carers will presumably get affected in this way.

Might spoil the government's plan to brush Covid under the carpet as quickly as possible.

People die of 'flu' too. Thousands die of it and secondary effects every single year. CV is new this year which has meant a huge number of cases meaning a very small percentage is quite a significant number. Covid will stay around and a small percentage will continue to have complications probably at a similar level to flu but for most people like many other illnesses that sometimes have complications but most recover just fine.

I'm not saying it isn't sad or a tragedy when it happens but it isn't any more sad or tragic than when it happens after flu or anything else.

Yawn, another fantasy merchant who still thinks it's just the flu.

How can schools be safe if this is true?
I feel as though I don't have enough information/a firm enough grasp on what the situation actually is to make decisions about things. We're barely going anywhere anyway as I'm vulnerable but I am so scared about September and I'm so scared about the future.

Does flu give you brain damage now???
Move along please, nothing to see here, it’s just a bad cold, etc, etc.

It’s not the flu *head bangs desk for millionth time”
Why keep raising this argument?!!

It sounds much more akin to polio than the flu. Would people be going round saying “it’s just polio, time to get on with life” ???

The flu is not a bad cold. In some years it has killed well over 600,000 people across the world and left many thousands of others with complications.

11 million people die every year from sepsis caused by infections of all kinds, including kidney infections and sore throats. Many millions more are left with complications.

Covid is a worrying illness but I'm sick of the idea that this is the first time ever that an infection has caused large numbers of deaths and complications - that is not the case.

My own brother had ADEM around 15 years ago when he was about 14 years old. He was in a coma and had to learn to walk and talk again, all as the result of an innocent viral infection. So I don’t believe this is just limited to Covid, based on my experience.

@TheDailyCarbuncle that is all entirely correct. Nobody is disputing that.
But It’s equally true we do not yet know how Covid will impact long term health - that is why there should be a precautionary approach to public health. But even simple things like wearing masks in public indoor spaces aren’t being done.

I think people have forgotten how serious and potentially devastating viruses and other illnesses can be. Sepsis and encephalitis for example.

Anyway, seeing my brother with ADEM was terrifying. And I believe he just had a cough and sore throat before it started.

Going to backfire on the government rather badly if their back to normal plan ends up not only killing more than necessary, but also produces millions more who depend on the state.

@IAintentDead

People die of 'flu' too. Thousands die of it and secondary effects every single year. CV is new this year which has meant a huge number of cases meaning a very small percentage is quite a significant number. Covid will stay around and a small percentage will continue to have complications probably at a similar level to flu but for most people like many other illnesses that sometimes have complications but most recover just fine.

I'm not saying it isn't sad or a tragedy when it happens but it isn't any more sad or tragic than when it happens after flu or anything else.

But surely the point of the thread isn't to point out what can potentially happen when you get flu- an illness that we know a lot about and we have yearly vaccines for. The point is, that unlike flu, scientists still don't understand enough about the long term damage of Covid-19 for everyone to be trivialising it yet. Most of the people I know are playing down the risk and off on trips to the pub, holidays, going to busy places, not social distancing to any great extent, having huge parties in their homes etc...but whilst this is going on scientists are gradually making links between Coronavirus and other potentially dangerous health issues. It's worrying that we still know so little about this illness and the long term affects of having it.

we haven’t seen before with other viruses

rare condition called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)

which is it -- never seen or actually have seen before?

43/millions of survivors sounds "rare", too. Not "haven't seen" but "rare".

40 adult patients described in 2001.

@lljkk I just posted above. My brother had ADEM about 15 years ago when he was in his mid teens. He had to learn to walk and talk again and was in a coma for weeks. This was as a result of a viral infection.

There are now many studies about neurological impacts of Covid -19, that was just one study, it doesn’t mean only 43 people have it
There is not yet enough data to say what proportion of people this will affect.