Severe brain damage possible even with mild coronavirus symptoms – Times of Oman

Severe brain damage possible even with mild coronavirus symptoms – Times of Oman

Frankfurt: There are numerous signs that the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 not only attacks the lungs and respiratory tract, but also other organs on a massive scale. It can severely affect the heart, vessels, nerves, kidneys, and skin.

British neurologists have now published shocking details in the journal "Brain," which suggests SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe brain damage “” even in patients with mild symptoms or those in recovery. Often this damage is detected very late or not at all.

Neurologists at the University College London (UCL) diagnosed acute demyelinating encephalomyelitis (ADEM) in nine British COVID-19 patients. This inflammatory disease causes a degenerative destruction of the central nervous system, affecting the myelin sheaths of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord.

Different degrees of damage

Of the 43 patients examined, 12 suffered from inflammation of the central nervous system, 10 from a transient encephalopathy (brain disease) with delirium or psychosis, eight from strokes, and a further eight from problems of the peripheral nerves, mostly with the diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome. This is an immune reaction that attacks the nerves and causes paralysis and is fatal in 5 per cent of cases. A 59-year-old woman died of the complication.

Scientists have never before seen another virus attack