Long COVID tagged posts

Spike Mutations that Help SARS-CoV-2 Infect the Brain Discovered

SARS-CoV-2 , COVID-19
Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID

Scientists have discovered a mutation in SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, that plays a key role in its ability to infect the central nervous system. The findings may help scientists understand its neurological symptoms and the mystery of “long COVID,” and they could one day even lead to specific treatments to protect and clear the virus from the brain.

The new collaborative study between scientists at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois-Chicago uncovered a series of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (the outer part of the virus that help...

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SARS-CoV-2 can Infect Dopamine Neurons causing Senescence

SARS-CoV-2 can infect dopamine neurons causing senescence
Stained tissue from the midbrain of a COVID-19 patient shows DNA in the cells’ nuceli (blue), dopamine neurons (green) and phosphor-alpha-synuclein (red). Credit: Liuliu Yang

A new study reported that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, can infect dopamine neurons in the brain and trigger senescence—when a cell loses the ability to grow and divide. The researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons suggest that further research on this finding may shed light on the neurological symptoms associated with long COVID, such as brain fog, lethargy, and depression.

The findings, published in Cell Stem Cell on Jan...

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Study: In patients with Long COVID, Immune cells don’t follow the rules

Kailin Yin speaking with Nadia Roan in the lab
Kailin Yin (left), a postdoctoral fellow in the Roan Lab and co-first author of the study, collaborates with Gladstone Senior Investigator Nadia Roan. Their study revealed unusual activity among certain immune cells in people with long COVID.

People with long COVID have dysfunctional immune cells that show signs of chronic inflammation and faulty movement into organs, among other unusual activity, according to a new study by scientists at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF).

The team analyzed immune cells and hundreds of different immune molecules in the blood of 43 people with and without long COVID...

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Long COVID can impact Fatigue and Quality of Life worse than some Cancers, finds new study

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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Fatigue is the symptom that most significantly impacts the daily lives of long COVID patients, and can affect quality of life more than some cancers, finds a new study led by researchers at UCL and the University of Exeter.

The research, published in BMJ Open , examines the impact of long COVID on the lives of over 3,750 patients who were referred to a long COVID clinic and used a digital app as part of their NHS treatment for the condition.

Patients were asked to complete questionnaires on the app about how long COVID was affecting them—considering the impact of long COVID on their day-to-day activities, levels of fatigue, depression, anxiety, breathlessness, brain fog, and their quality of life.

The researchers found that many long COVID p...

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