The covid virus can trigger complex biological reactions from the intestine to the brain, causing persistent neurological symptoms in some people, according to a new study of the thousands being done around the world to discover the causes of this disease that It affects up to 20% of patients who contracted this virus, especially women.
According to this research, viral traces in the gastrointestinal tract of a subset of long Covid patients can cause chronic inflammation that interferes with a key chemical messenger, serotonin, involved in nerve activity, brain function and memory, according to the study. research from the University of Pennsylvania, published yesterday in the journal Cell.
Scientists there say their findings provide an explanation for poor concentration, memory problems and other neurocognitive symptoms of long Covid. Importantly, their experiments identified Prozac and other drugs that increase serotonin levels as promising targets for future studies.
More than 200 symptoms have been associated with long Covid, an umbrella term for the often debilitating health problems estimated to affect 10% or more of people who have had Covid.
The new research suggests that some characteristic symptoms "may converge on common pathways," according to co-author Christoph Thaiss, assistant professor of microbiology at the Penn Institute for Immunology in Philadelphia.
