The new findings strengthen the view that the coronavirus can affect the brain through the nose, according to scientists.
People who continue to have loss of smell after Covid-19 infection -regardless of the severity of the disease- it is more likely to experience memory loss as well and other cognitive problems, compared to those who never lost their sense of smell when they got sick with coronavirus or quickly recovered it. This is the conclusion of a new scientific study from Argentina, according to which the persistent loss of smell – despite the severity of the infection – is a better indicator of the possibility of long-term cognitive and especially memory symptoms after Covid-19.
A frequent one symptom of coronavirus infection is the sudden loss of smell. Previous studies have linked such loss to warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Evidence shows that Covid-19 can also lead to chronic neurological problems such as memory loss and difficulty concentrating. The new study confirms that loss of smell due to Covid-19 is associated with such persistent cognitive symptoms.
The researchers, led by Dr. Gabriela Gonzalez-Aleman of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires, who made the announcement at an international Alzheimer’s conference in California, analyzed data on 766 people over the age of 60 with no history of cognitive decline. Of these, 90% had been diagnosed positive for the coronavirus by a molecular test and also underwent an olfactory test as well as cognitive tests at least three months after the Covid-19 infection.
It found that two-thirds of people who had Covid-19 subsequently experienced some form of memory impairment, and for around half the problem was severe enough to affect their daily lives. People with a complete loss of smell (anosmia) three months after the coronavirus infection were about one and a half times more likely to experience memory problems and other cognitive impairments, compared to those who had either never lost their sense of smell during Covid-19, either they had recovered it quickly.
The new findings strengthen the view that the coronavirus can affect the brain through the nose, according to scientists.
But since most brain cells lack the ACE2 receptor that the coronavirus normally uses to infect cells, it is unclear whether the memory and other cognitive symptoms are due to the virus directly infecting the brain. It is possible that the coronavirus, after infecting the cells of the nose, causing inflammation and dysfunction in the olfactory neurons and by extension loss of smell, can then penetrate through these nerve cells into the brain, causing additional cognitive-memory problems.
RES-EMP
View the news feed and get the latest news.
