We Just Got More Evidence That Long COVID Is a Brain Injury

The exact nature of long COVID is still coming to light, but we just got some of the best evidence yet that this debilitating condition stems from a brain injury.

Using high-resolution scanners, researchers at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford have shown microscopic, structural abnormalities in the brainstems of those recovering from COVID-19.

Signs of brain inflammation were present up to 18 months after first contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

“We show that the brainstem is a site of vulnerability to long-term effects of COVID-19, with persistent changes evident in the months after hospitalization,” the authors of the study conclude.

https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awae215

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  • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    I think it’s important for people to realize:

    A very bad cold or flu can totally damage your body and is how lots of older folks go unfortunately.

    Covid without a vaccine would have been a terrible sickness.

    What bugs me the most is so many people who don’t understand logical fallacies kept saying just wait a year or two and you’ll see mass deaths and weakened immunity… and they are conveniently silent now, probably blaming fires on DEI or something stupid like that.

    • teawrecks@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I got it before the pandemic shut down. in February of 2020. I was working in a high contact environment with high risk. I ended up sick, then sicker, then my whole team was sick, and out of work. we were told to do training as wfh and we’d be back when we felt better. it felt like that wasn’t coming. I got sicker and bedridden, my dr prescribed a steroid inhaler and wasn’t sure what it was. then sent out some labs and said ‘inconclusive’. i stayed sick. moving from the bed into the attached bathroom and back was a 4 steo with breaks sitting on the floor process. i lost my job. i went on unemployment. it was another half of a month before I went back to the doctor. Covid. and they had no options for me but to wait it out. it wasnt bad enough.

    • MolecularCactus1324@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I got walking pneumonia last year. Took some antibiotics and got rid of it, but it basically brought back my childhood asthma. I’ve been stuck with it for about 10 months now. Really eye opening to me how long it has lasted.

    • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      They are seeing all these mass deaths. According to the antivaxx crowd almost every single person who gets sick or dies could have prevented this by not getting vaxxed. They don’t care, that this is absolute bullshit.

    • leds@feddit.dk
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      3 days ago

      Covid without a vaccine would have been a terrible sickness.

      And yet here in Denmark you can’t get the booster if you’re not old or very sick.

      • Dupree878@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I image that’s because of the cost. In the US it costs $207 of you don’t have insurance when it was free for everyone until last summer.

        • leds@feddit.dk
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          2 days ago

          Yeah pharmacies can offer the shot but since there is no demand it is not actually available , I believe it was around 100 USD

    • Zero22xx@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      conveniently silent

      Always. When the previous conspiracy theory / rapture date / return of JFK / illuminati plot doesn’t turn out to be true, there’s no talking about it or self reflection, it’s just right onto the next conspiracy theory / rapture date / return of JFK / illuminati plot.

    • Zomg@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      That was my old boss. You described them to a T in Re: to the mass deaths in 2 years. She was an absolute idiot, and I have no doubt would put her political party over her own personal safety again if she knew Democrats were already doing the same as she needed to. She is incapable of thinking rationally.

    • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Do you have a source for claiming it’d be worse without the vaccine? I haven’t seen any studies show it lessens the severity of brain damage caused by infections.

      What I’ve seen is claims that even the asymptomatic infections are causing brain damage.