Category: Clinical Considerations
Understanding neurological complications of COVID-19
NIH Although SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was initially identified as a respiratory virus, its effects on the nervous system have been profound. There were reports in the initial phases of the pandemic that the virus was contributing to large, severe strokes in individuals, including younger people typically at lower risk for such events. […]
Apr 4, 2023
Concerns about exercise as a treatment for long COVID
Nature Advocates say an NIH trial of exercise for long COVID could harm participants. Plus, split-site doctorates boost African research and hibernating dormice glow under ultraviolet light. Patients and patient advocates are calling on the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to reconsider its decision to include exercise trials in its RECOVER initiative, which aims […]
Apr 4, 2023
Emory researchers discover key pathway for COVID organ damage in adults
Emory University Even after three years since the emergence of COVID-19, much remains unknown about how it causes severe disease, including the widespread organ damage beyond just the lungs. Increasingly, scientists are learning that organ dysfunction results from damage to the blood vessels, but why the virus causes this damage is unclear. Now a multidisciplinary […]
Apr 4, 2023
Infected Immune Cells In Brain Could Be Causing Long COVID Symptoms
Medical Daily Scientists may have finally found an explanation for what has been causing neurological symptoms in long COVID patients. A research team at Tokyo’s Keio University conducted a study on how SARS-CoV-2 infects the microglia and not the neurons in the brain using 2D and 3D cultures. The former refers to the resident immune […]
Apr 4, 2023
Paxlovid Linked to Lower Risk of Long COVID
Contagion Live Treating COVID-19 with Paxlovid, a combination of nirmatrelvir with ritonavir, within 5 days of symptom onset was associated with lower risk for developing Post-COVID-19 Conditions (PCC), or Long COVID, in a large Veterans Affairs (VA) cohort study. In addition to reducing risk of mild to moderate infection becoming severe, and of severe symptoms requiring […]
Mar 28, 2023
Study finds co-infection with ‘superbug’ bacteria increases SARS-CoV-2 replication
Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry Global data shows nearly 10 per cent of severe COVID-19 cases involve a secondary bacterial co-infection – with Staphylococcus aureus, also known as Staph A., being the most common organism responsible for co-existing infections with SARS-CoV-2. Researchers at Western have found if you add a ‘superbug’ – methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus […]
Mar 21, 2023
Nirmatrelvir-Ritonavir Effective Against Omicron BA.4, BA.5 SARS-CoV-2 Variant
Pulmonology Advisor Real-world evidence from the Omicron period of the COVID-19 pandemic shows the benefit of nirmatrelvir-ritonavir for vaccinated outpatients and those younger than 65 years of age with non-severe COVID-19 at high risk of hospitalization or death, according to study findings published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Investigators sought to examine the real-world effect of […]
Mar 21, 2023
SARS-CoV-2 infection weakens immune-cell response to vaccination
NIH NIH-funded study suggests need to boost CD8+ T cell response after infection. The magnitude and quality of a key immune cell’s response to vaccination with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine were considerably lower in people with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to people without prior infection, a study has found. In addition, the […]
Mar 21, 2023
Persistent prosopagnosia following COVID-19
(Science Direct) Abstract COVID-19 can cause psychological problems including loss of smell and taste, long-lasting memory, speech, and language impairments, and psychosis. Here, we provide the first report of prosopagnosia following symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Annie is a 28-year-old woman who had normal face recognition prior to contracting COVID-19 in March 2020. Two months later, […]
Mar 14, 2023
SARS-CoV-2 is associated with changes in brain structure in UK Biobank
(Nature) There is strong evidence of brain-related abnormalities in COVID-191,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13. However, it remains unknown whether the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection can be detected in milder cases, and whether this can reveal possible mechanisms contributing to brain pathology. Here we investigated brain changes in 785 participants of UK Biobank (aged 51–81 years) who were imaged twice using […]
Mar 14, 2023