COVID-19 in Brain (and rest of body) up to 8 months (so far)

[Tom.G]

It's a pre-print from a bunch of researchers at the NIH.
https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1139035/v1_covered.pdf?c=1640020576

SARS-CoV-2 infection and persistence throughout the human body and brain

We show that
SARS-CoV-2 is widely distributed, even among patients who died with asymptomatic to
mild COVID-19, and that virus replication is present in multiple pulmonary and
extrapulmonary tissues early in infection. Further, we detected persistent SARS-CoV-2
RNA in multiple anatomic sites, including regions throughout the brain, for up to 230 days
following symptom onset. Despite extensive distribution of SARS-CoV-2 in the body, we
observed a paucity of inflammation or direct viral cytopathology outside of the lungs. Our
data prove that SARS-CoV-2 causes systemic infection and can persist in the body for
months.

No wonder Long Covid exists!

 

[sysprog]

wow, that sux . . .

 

[atyy]

These are only in very sick patients. 80% if these cases were ventilated, and 20% had ecmo. So it doesn't say much about long Covid in say triply vaxxed people who don't need hospitalization, maybe not even those who are hospitalized but don't need icu treatment.

 

[Astronuc]

No wonder Long Covid exists!

And the full effect may not be known/evident for two or more decades as people age and develop comorbidities, if they don't already have one or more.

It would be interesting to know what treatment long Covid patients received, e.g., did they get Remdesivir or other antiviral medications and/or monoclonal antibody treatments. Clearly, not everyone gets access to such medications.

 

[phyzguy]

Another question is, what about similar studies on other viruses. As I understand it, the chicken pox virus remains in your body for the rest of your life, which is why it causes shingles later in life.