Coronavirus could induce a potential wave of brain damage: Researchers

Coronavirus can lead to impaired neurological functions along with psychological damage, revealed a recent study on the novel virus. According to researchers at University College London (UCL), there was a possibility of a wave of coronavirus-related brain damage to break out in the world shortly after the virus-caused pandemic subsides. 

The researchers at UCL studied 43 cases of patients with COVID-19, who were suffering from neurological complications such as temporary brain dysfunction, strokes and nerve damage amongst others. According to their study, the novel virus had changes of causing serious damage to the brain including inflammation, psychosis and delirium.

The researchers speculated that this could be a similar virus-related brain damage like the encephalitis lethargica outbreak in the 1920s-30s which affected 5 million people in the world a few years after the 1918 influenza pandemic.

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Out of the 43 patients in the case study,  nine were diagnosed with a rare condition called 'acute disseminated encephalomyelitis' (ADEM), usually seen in children and largely induced by viral infections.

The researchers managed to find this possible link after witnessing a surge in ADEM patients at their specialist clinic in London. The usual numbers which were one adult ADEM patient a month shot up to one a week. 

First detected in Wuhan, the novel Coronavirus has infected over 11 million people in the world with the latest tally at 1,17,97,213. There have been 64,15,379 recoveries across the globe and 5,43,595 deaths owing to the deadly virus, as per the John Hopkins University Tracker. 

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(With Agency Inputs)