Beyond respiratory disorders, Covid-19 infection would also cause neurodegenerative diseases and promote the onset of Parkinson’s or its aggravation in people with this disease.
- This virus is a neurotropic since it is able to infect the nervous system.
- Inflammation of neurons can be a trigger for Parkinson’s or Covid-19 can cause such inflammation.
The new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus could well have hitherto unsuspected long-term consequences. Australian researchers suggest that the pandemic could extend backwards in the form of neurodegenerative diseases. Covid-19 could be, in the long term, associated with the appearance of neurological disorders associated with Parkinson’s or the aggravation of this disease for patients who are affected. The results were published on September 22 in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.
A neurotropic
Neurological disorders associated with Covid-19 infection have already been put forward. This concerns in particular anosmia (loss of smell), encephalopathies or strokes. This virus is a neurotropic since it is able to infect the nervous system. The researchers suggest that this ability of the virus could lead to another, hitherto unforeseen wave of degenerative diseases for patients who have been infected.
Researchers studied Parkinson, which is a neurodegenerative disease, to observe how Covid-19 could cause it. They highlighted the fact that the inflammation of neurons is a possible trigger for this pathology. However, among the hypotheses on the origin of these inflammations exists that of viral diseases which are suspected of increasing the risk of appearance of this pathology. Covid-19 causing a viral infection that can have neurological consequences, it could be a long-term factor in the appearance or aggravation of Parkinson’s.
Patient follow-up
The other parallel between the two diseases is anosmia, present in both pathologies. “We believe that anosmia represents a new way of early detection of a person at risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.precise Leah Beauchamp, researcher to Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, and author of the study, in a communicated. Based on knowledge that indicates that anosmia is present in 90% of people in the early phase of Parkinson’s and ten years before motor symptoms, we believe that we are on the right track.”
The researchers advocate for tracing of Covid-19 patients who have suffered neurological disorders in order to determine the presence of neurofilaments which are a sign of possible neurodegeneration.
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