A new study shows that COVID-19 is capable of breaking through the brain barrier just as HIV-1 does. Researchers from the University of Washington discovered the coronavirus’ spike protein has the ability to break through the blood-brain barrier in mice and can do the same in humans, causing brain fog, mental fatigue and other cognitive problems.
Once the immune system recognizes the virus as a major threat in COVID patients, it goes into overdrive, creating what’s known as a cytokine storm and causing a number of neurological problems that have also been reported by many HIV patients.
“We know that when you have the COVID infection you have trouble breathing and that’s because there’s infection in your lung, but an additional explanation is that the virus enters the respiratory centers of the brain and causes problems there as well,” said professor of medicine and lead study author William A. Banks.
Researchers also noted that the spike proteins travel to the olfactory bulbs and kidneys of male patients faster than female patients, which may be why men are at higher risk of developing severe COVID-related symptoms.
SOURCE: Study Finds December 23, 2020