Friday, January 8, 2021

How COVID-19 is Affecting the Human Brain


Although it is highly encouraged to wear a mask in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Trump has repeatedly told his supporters that masks are not required and has supported the idea of not needing to wear a mask in public. This has caused chaos all over the country. People are being irresponsible and unsafe. The virus is highly contagious and extremely hard to control. Even with regulations put into place, some people still do not follow these precautious and put their lives as well as other lives in danger. Because of Trump not supporting the use of masks, the virus has spread like wildfire. The United States has reached a high of 222,653 cases in this week alone. Since January 2020, there has also been a total of 21,305,169 cases in the US, and this number continues to surge dramatically. The number of cases from today, January 7th, 2021, in California, is 36,385. After almost a year of this virus continuing to spread all over the world, major effects have been discovered.

As known, the coronavirus can affect people in different ways. Some people are asymptomatic, others get very sick, and sadly people can die from this brutal virus. There is even evidence that neurological, cognitive and psychological effects can appear in patients who did not have serious lung or heart problems from the virus. On top of this, new discoveries have shown that the virus can cause psychotic symptoms, as well as affect mental health and how the brain functions. There have been a handful of people who are developing psychosis because of COVID-19. Dr. Hisam Goueli worked with a well accomplished 42 year old patient who started to hear a voice in her head. "She had experienced only mild physical symptoms from the virus, but, months later, she heard a voice that first told her to kill herself and then told her to kill her children." Sadly, this woman is not the only one experiencing this awful affect. Doctors from all over the world are reporting similar cases. "A small number of Covid patients who had never experienced mental health problems are developing severe psychotic symptoms weeks after contracting the coronavirus." 

It is hard to say for sure, but experts believe that the brain is affected because of the way the body's immune system responds to the virus, and it's also affected because of vascular problems or inflammation. Dr. Vilma Gabbay stated that "some of the neurotoxins that are reactions to immune activation can go to the brain, through the blood-brain barrier, and can induce this damage." The patients did not get very sick by the virus, however, they did experience symptoms like headaches, vertigo, and diminished smell, and eventually 2 weeks or months later, developed psychosis. Many of the patients were able to get treated, however, their recovery varied. While some got better in a couple of days or weeks, others took months to recover. There are still so many unanswered questions regarding the coronavirus, and it is safe to say that it is critical for cases to lower in order to protect people from experiencing such brutal affects. 

Do you think we will start to see more people wearing masks because of this new discovery? Do you think people will be more responsible now?

New York Times

NPR

CDC


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