Roughly 79 million Americans contracted COVID-19 in the first two years of the pandemic. While most survived, many are grappling with long-term symptoms, or long COVID, that affect the brain and other body systems.
People infected with even mild cases showed cognitive decline, degeneration in parts of the brain, and brain shrinkage, says co-authoComparing MRI scans before and after the pandemic started, infected participants "may have lost 2.9% gray matter in a given brain region, whereas non-infected participants will have lost only 0.9% over the same three-year period," Winkler tells Axios.
"The data available for the study doesn't allow us to indicate a specific mechanism for the effects observed; these can be because the virus invades the brain, or because of the inflammation it causes," Winkler adds.
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