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COVID- According to a study, 19 infections may put people at risk for developing irreparable brain problems.

The study’s findings, which were published in the journal Ageing Research Reviews, also suggest that COVID-19 may make strokes and the development of chronic lesions that might cause brain haemorrhage more likely.

The researchers from the Houston Methodist Research Institute, lead by Joy Mitra and Muralidhar L Hegde, stated that a large body of research has demonstrated that the effects of COVID-19 extend much beyond the actual time of infection.

According to the experts, COVID-19 is known to penetrate and infect the brain as well as other important organs.

They claimed that the coronavirus infection, especially in elderly and other sensitive populations, can result in long-term and irreversible neurological disorders.

The development of microbleed lesions in deeper brain regions connected to our cognitive and memory functions has been established by several brain imaging investigations on COVID-19 victims and survivors.

Researchers have carefully considered the potential chronic neuropathological effects in comorbid and ageing populations in the event that prompt therapeutic intervention is not carried out.

Microbleeds are new neuropathological signs that are frequently found in persons with comorbid conditions like diabetes, chronic depressive disorders, and chronic stress.

According to their previous research, the scientists hypothesised that COVID-19-induced microhemorrhagic lesions would worsen DNA damage in damaged brain cells, leading to neuronal senescence and activation of cell death pathways, which in turn disrupt brain microstructure-vasculature.

These pathogenic occurrences are expected to exacerbate advanced-stage dementia as well as cognitive and motor deficits since they reflect the hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.

According to the researchers, numerous components of the central nervous system are currently being examined in order to determine how COVID-19 infection affects them.

For example, 20–30% of COVID-19 patients report having a persistent mental illness called “brain fog,” which manifests as symptoms like memory loss, concentration problems, forgetting daily tasks, difficulty choosing the right words, taking longer than usual to complete routine tasks, disoriented thought processes, and emotional numbness.

Predispositions for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases are among the more severe long-term effects examined in the review, along with cardiovascular disorders brought on by internal bleeding and blood clotting-induced lesions in the area of the brain that controls our respiratory system after the onset of COVID-19 symptoms.

According to the researchers, cellular ageing is also likely to be accelerated in COVID-19 patients.

They claimed that a variety of cellular pressures cause the virus-infected cells to go into “hibernation mode” or perhaps perish entirely because they prevent them from carrying out their typical biological duties.

The study also outlines the significance of the therapeutic regimen of the “nanozyme” in combination with various FDA-approved drugs that may prove effective in the fight against this devastating disease, as well as various strategies to improve some of these long-term neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative outcomes.

The researchers noted that the fight against COVID-19 is far from ended due to the constantly evolving nature of this field and associations like those documented in this review, adding that vaccination and good hygiene are essential in the effort to avoid such long-term and negative effects.