By Isabella Doherty, Features Editor
While COVID-19 is well known for affecting the pulmonary system of the body, doctors are now observing a small portion of those infected with the virus developing serious brain impairments. Doctors in China, Italy, Denmark, and now the U.S. have seen neurological symptoms arise from the virus.
Typical indications have included fever, cough, and difficulty breathing but doctors have been seeing an increase in patients who exhibit altered mental status, strokes, seizures, encephalopathy, blood costs, and acroparesthesia (numbness/tingling in extremities).
A case in Detroit saw a woman at Henry Ford Hospital who had extreme disorientation, in addition to all the typical symptoms of COVID-19. After ordering MRI and CT scans, the doctors found images showed swelling against the skull with white lesions across her entire brain. Each one was filled with dead or dying neurons in important regions that control alertness, memories, and relay sensory signals. They later diagnosed her with a condition called Acute Necrotizing Hemorrhagic Encephalopathy (ANE), a rare condition normally only seen in influenza or other viral infections in children.
“We’ve been telling people that the major complications of this new disease are pulmonary,” UC San Francisco neurologist Dr. Andrew Josephson said. “But it appears there are a fair number of neurological complications that patients and their physicians should be aware of.”
While doctors don’t yet understand how COVID-19 works or how it affects most of the body, in flu cases brain damage is not usually caused by the virus itself. Instead it is normally a complication caused by inflammation from the own body’s response with cytokines. While scientists have been trying to see if the same holds for this virus, there have been multiple reports that COVID-19 causes a phenomenon called a cytokines storm where the body starts to attack its own cells and tissues instead of attacking the virus.
Little is still known about the virus and how it affects people, but doctors and researchers are doing their best to try and figure out what and why these symptoms are occurring despite stressful and busy environments. Without further testing, medical professionals won’t know whether the neurological symptoms are a result of a viral invasion of the brain or a side effect from the body’s reaction.
It is important to note that most cases that exhibited the rare neurological conditions were severely ill with more typical symptoms of the virus already. With that being said, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now included “new confusion or inability to rouse” under the list of warning signs that should warrant seeking medical care right away. While seizures and encephalopathy is rare in patients, it’s good to be aware of the potential.
For more information pertaining to COVID-19, please consult the CDC website or your local health advisor.
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