Researchers identify mechanism behind brain fog in long COVID

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

Disruptions in the blood-brain barrier along with a hyperactive immune system are the likely mechanisms behind "brain fog" in patients who are experiencing long COVID, an Irish research team reported in Nature Neuroscience.

 

Brain fog has been reported during acute COVID infection and has also been reported in nearly 50% of patients who experience long COVID, or symptoms well past the acute phase of COVID-19.

...

Implications for diagnosis and treatment

Matthew Campbell, PhD, one of the study coauthors, said in a Trinity College Dublin press release that the findings show for the first time that leaky vessels in the brain along with a hyperactive immune system may be the key drivers of brain fog in people experiencing long COVID.

 

"This is critically important, as understanding the underlying cause of these conditions will allow us to develop targeted therapies for patients in the future," he said. Campbell is a genetics professor at Trinity College.

 

(more)

 

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/researchers-identify-mechanism-behind-brain-fog-long-covid

 

 

Blood–brain barrier disruption and sustained systemic inflammation in individuals with long COVID-associated cognitive impairment

Published: 22 February 2024

 

"Vascular disruption has been implicated in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pathogenesis and may predispose to the neurological sequelae associated with long COVID, yet it is unclear how blood–brain barrier (BBB) function is affected in these conditions. Here we show that BBB disruption is evident during acute infection and in patients with long COVID with cognitive impairment, commonly referred to as brain fog....

 

Together, our data suggest that sustained systemic inflammation and persistent localized BBB dysfunction is a key feature of long COVID-associated brain fog."

 

(more)

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01576-9

 

[thaicurious]

So possibly somewhat hopeful news for all the idiots who've refused to mask and vax as well as for those who did their best to protect themselves against COVID but sadly got infected anyway. Science has identified a "breakdown to the integrity of the blood–brain barrier."

 

Now all they have to do is figure out how to repair the damage done by inflammation and figure out how to repair the blood-brain barrier so that the brain is not attacked further both by this again nor by any number of offending elements that the blood-brain barrier would have normally protected against.

 

Then they need to figure out how to rid the skull-meninges-brain axis of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein accumulations so it doesn't continue to disrupt the blood-brain barrier--and we already know how easy its been to rid the body of HIV, of herpes, of varicella zoster, of name a virus that so far stays for life and that decades of research hasn't fixed--as well as how to stop further transmission (hopefully the mucosal vaccines later this year, but, wait, the idiots won't take that either because "I'm not putting THAT into my body!").

 

I want to be more impressed by the accomplishment of new findings, but even in the face of such small hope, what a disaster this has been.

[Roo Island]

Progress! Takes time for science to fully figure things out.

 

I know several who've had this brain fog.

[thaicurious]

13 hours ago, Roo Island said:

Progress! Takes time for science to fully figure things out.

 

I know several who've had this brain fog.

Same. And this is prob why I get so upset. One has genetics for Parkinson's. One for Alzheimer's and the third i remember his mom had some sort of dementia but I don't recall the specifics, might have been Lewy but I'm not certain now as two decades back quite a few of my group was dealing at the same time with parents with similar issues. I remember how unfun that was.

 

The first two vaxxed but only boosted intermittently and didn't mask "among friends". Also never stopped going to restaurants, outside at first but then inside which I still won't do. The third guy refused to mask at all and of vaxing would say "I'm not putting THAT in my body," while regularly snorting COVID, a line I will remember and mock forever. With the first two conversation has become so nuts as to be impossible. When I tried to get them to go to a doc for their brains they became paranoid of me. I've no legal recourse, hopefully their idiot kids will kick in. A friend in crisis intervention says all I can do is help pick up the pieces later. Oh joy! The third guy, an anti-vaxxing denier who calls SARS "that flu", admits without prompting that his thinking has become difficult, acknowledges having had "that flu" a number of times, but then Que Sera Sera's his condition, so I haven't cut off contact but I do limit it because I can't sit back and watch others I've known my whole life purposely destroy their lives. This is ongoing and this sucks.

[Roo Island]

8 hours ago, thaicurious said:

Same. And this is prob why I get so upset. One has genetics for Parkinson's. One for Alzheimer's and the third i remember his mom had some sort of dementia but I don't recall the specifics, might have been Lewy but I'm not certain now as two decades back quite a few of my group was dealing at the same time with parents with similar issues. I remember how unfun that was.

 

The first two vaxxed but only boosted intermittently and didn't mask "among friends". Also never stopped going to restaurants, outside at first but then inside which I still won't do. The third guy refused to mask at all and of vaxing would say "I'm not putting THAT in my body," while regularly snorting COVID, a line I will remember and mock forever. With the first two conversation has become so nuts as to be impossible. When I tried to get them to go to a doc for their brains they became paranoid of me. I've no legal recourse, hopefully their idiot kids will kick in. A friend in crisis intervention says all I can do is help pick up the pieces later. Oh joy! The third guy, an anti-vaxxing denier who calls SARS "that flu", admits without prompting that his thinking has become difficult, acknowledges having had "that flu" a number of times, but then Que Sera Sera's his condition, so I haven't cut off contact but I do limit it because I can't sit back and watch others I've known my whole life purposely destroy their lives. This is ongoing and this sucks.

Wife's mother just got covid here. Our neighbor is terribly sick, 3 jabs, got it at a party. Another friend in Bangkok has it. Really going around right now

[thaicurious]

4 hours ago, Roo Island said:

Wife's mother just got covid here. Our neighbor is terribly sick, 3 jabs, got it at a party. Another friend in Bangkok has it. Really going around right now

Brutal. Hopefully the vax will keep them from hospital and morgue. But everyone needs to understand that though the current vax is way better than the nightmare of when there was no vaccination, they don't stop transmission. All they do is make it manageable. So people need to continue masking until a next generation vax that better prevents transmission. That might be by end of 2024 or possibly into 2025. But they are on the way.

 

I think the first mucosal aka intranasal vax that FDA could approve for use in the USA will be Codagenix's Coviliv I think it is called which I believe is in phase three trials now. Lemme google... https://codagenix.com/codagenix-announces-late-breaking-presentation-of-positive-clinical-immunogenicity-data-for-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-coviliv-at-idweek-2023/ and this link shows it in phase 3 https://codagenix.com/pipeline/ 

 

I haven't seen phase 3 data on any of the mucosals yet so I don't know the efficacy but some of the early animal studies look very promising. I'll believe it if I see it but supposedly possibly stops this in its tracks promising. 

 

Until then people have to learn to give up a little bit of fun now to better assure a lifetime going forward without the complications of long covid. I get that masking can be tough if still in the work world. But for retired people, I don't relate to not masking one bit. It is so easy to do yet hardly any do it.

 

I might understand risking life to go, say, sky diving. But I'll never understanding risking life to go unmasked into a supermarket just to purchase some veggies or to a party to socialize. Because in all my decades I didn't already go to enough parties that I must risk life for one more party that can't wait until a next gen vax.

 

Yeah, no, I'm gonna sit this one out.

[Roo Island]

15 minutes ago, thaicurious said:

Brutal. Hopefully the vax will keep them from hospital and morgue. But everyone needs to understand that though the current vax is way better than the nightmare of when there was no vaccination, they don't stop transmission. All they do is make it manageable. So people need to continue masking until a next generation vax that better prevents transmission. That might be by end of 2024 or possibly into 2025. But they are on the way.

 

I think the first mucosal aka intranasal vax that FDA could approve for use in the USA will be Codagenix's Coviliv I think it is called which I believe is in phase three trials now. Lemme google... https://codagenix.com/codagenix-announces-late-breaking-presentation-of-positive-clinical-immunogenicity-data-for-covid-19-vaccine-candidate-coviliv-at-idweek-2023/ and this link shows it in phase 3 https://codagenix.com/pipeline/ 

 

I haven't seen phase 3 data on any of the mucosals yet so I don't know the efficacy but some of the early animal studies look very promising. I'll believe it if I see it but supposedly possibly stops this in its tracks promising. 

 

Until then people have to learn to give up a little bit of fun now to better assure a lifetime going forward without the complications of long covid. I get that masking can be tough if still in the work world. But for retired people, I don't relate to not masking one bit. It is so easy to do yet hardly any do it.

 

I might understand risking life to go, say, sky diving. But I'll never understanding risking life to go unmasked into a supermarket just to purchase some veggies or to a party to socialize. Because in all my decades I didn't already go to enough parties that I must risk life for one more party that can't wait until a next gen vax.

 

Yeah, no, I'm gonna sit this one out.

I went to the bus station the other day for the trip to Bangkok. As usual, packed! I ordered a Grab. Just didn't look safe....or fun! 55555

 

Great information. Thanks!