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Neurological complications of covid-19 may include delirium, nerve damage, stroke, and a rare type of brain inflammation, although researchers are unclear, in the latter case, as a result of the coronavirus or immune reaction, according to a study. published by Brain magazine.

The study of University College London (UCL) and its University Hospital (UCLH) was made with a sample of 43 patients , some of whom did not experience severe respiratory symptoms, but the first and main ones were neurological.

According to the research, "it appears" that the prevalence of a "rare and sometimes fatal" inflammatory condition , acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), is increasing due to the pandemic, a UCL statement said.

Of all the patients, twelve had brain inflammation, and of these, nine had ADEM, a condition that is normally seen in children and can be triggered by viral infections.

The SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of any of the patients of the study, which "suggests that the virus did not attack directly to the brain to cause neurological disease , " says a note.

But in some patients, they did find evidence that brain inflammation was "likely caused" by an immune response to the disease , suggesting that "some neurological complications of covid-19 may come from the immune response, rather than from the virus itself. "

For this reason, the team believes that more research is needed to identify why patients developed these complications.

The hospital team noted that they typically see about one adult patient per month with ADEM, but that the rate dropped to at least one a week during the study period, which for researchers is "a worrying increase." .

The research provides a count of the neurological symptoms of 43 people (aged 16 to 85) , who were confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus .

One of the authors Michaell Zandi of the UCL noted that they identified "a larger than expected number" of people with neurological problems, who "did not always correlate with the severity of respiratory symptoms."

Therefore, he considered that we should be vigilant and "monitor these complications in people who have had Covid-19 . It remains to be seen if we will see a large-scale epidemic of brain damage related to the pandemic, perhaps similar to the outbreak of lethargic encephalitis in the 1920s and 1930s , after the 1918 flu pandemic. "

In the group of patients with whom the study was conducted, the researchers also identified ten cases of transient encephalopathy (temporary brain dysfunction) with delirium, which corresponds to previous studies that found evidence of agitated delirium, adds the note. .

In addition, eight patients had strokes and as many nerve damage, especially Guillain-Barré syndrome, which normally occurs after a respiratory or gastrointestinal infection.

The data also points to the existence of a "larger than expected number" of stroke patients. The appearance of blood clots in the body has already been identified by other studies as a frequent complication of the disease.

Ross Paterson , also a signatory to the article, noted that "since the disease has only been around for a few months, we may not yet know the long-term damage Covid-19 can cause ."

Doctors, he added, "should be aware of the possible neurological effects, since an early diagnosis can improve patient outcomes" and stressed that people who are recovering from the virus "should seek professional health advice if they experience neurological symptoms "

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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