This archive report was first published on 8 July 2020.
Published on July 8, 2020, a study revealed a link between COVID-19 and brain damage, disorders in people with mild symptoms.
Researchers found a rise in a life-threatening condition called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) in patients with COVID-19.
According to the study, doctors may be missing signs of serious and potentially fatal brain disorders triggered by the coronavirus.
One woman, aged 59, died from the condition, while a dozen patients had inflammation of the central nervous system, and 10 more had brain disease with delirium or psychosis.
Eight patients had strokes, and a further eight had peripheral nerve problems, mostly diagnosed as Guillain-Barré syndrome, an immune reaction that attacks the nerves and causes paralysis with a 5% fatality rate.
Michael Zandi, a senior author on the study, said, "We're seeing things in the way COVID-19 affects the brain that we haven't seen before with other viruses." He added, "Biologically, ADEM has some similarities with multiple sclerosis, but it is more severe and usually happens as a one-off."
The study described one case of a 55-year-old woman who tested positive for the disease but behaved abnormally after she was discharged.
The first cases of COVID-19 were reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and since then, the virus has spread rapidly, infecting at least 11.9 million people as of July 8, 2020.
