By Heather Tirado Gilligan, California Health Care Foundation, June 28, 2021
COVID-19 remains a mysterious illness, a respiratory infection that also affects many organs, including the brain. Researchers from Stanford University, in a study that examined the brains of people who died from COVID-19, have discovered that the illness may have a profound effect on that organ.
The researchers compared the brains of 12 people who had COVID-19 to the brains of 12 who did not die of that infection. The study, published in the journal Nature on June 21, showed that COVID-19 might actually shrink parts of the brain.
“The research reveals haunting similarities between the brains of those killed by COVID-19 and other degenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease,” Lisa Krieger wrote in the San Jose Mercury News. In addition to shrinkage, the effects include inflammation, genetic changes, and impaired circuitry, Krieger reported. Those are “important clues to the mysterious ‘brain fog’ and mental struggles reported by many patients,” she wrote.
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