Coronavirus capable of invading brain: Study

This article is more than 12 months old

Sep 11, 2020 06:00 am

WASHINGTON: Headaches, confusion and delirium experienced by some Covid-19 patients could be the result of the coronavirus directly invading the brain, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The research is still preliminary but offers several new lines of evidence to support what was previously a largely untested theory.

According to the paper, which was led by Yale immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, the virus is able to replicate inside the brain, and its presence starves nearby brain cells of oxygen, though the prevalence of this is not yet clear.

Chair of the neurology department S. Andrew Josephson at the University of California, San Francisco, praised the techniques used in the study and said "understanding whether or not there is direct viral involvement of the brain is extraordinarily important".

But he added that he would remain cautious until the paper underwent peer review. - AFP