A modest research looked at long-Covid patients who had symptoms that may be caused by nerve injury. Small nerve fibres, which had been healthy before to the infection, were damaged in 60% of the cases.
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| [Long Covid] |
Scientists from the United States investigated if nerve injury may be associated to prolonged symptoms following corona illness, i.e. Long Covid. The research revealed that nearly two-thirds of the patients suffered nerve damage. The researchers believe that the harm was caused by a defective immunological response.
The study, despite its modest sample size, was published in the specialty journal »Neurology«.
No nerve damage before the disease, predominantly mild courses
The research included 17 persons with long-Covid illness that developed within three months of Sars-CoV-2 infection and persisted at least two months. The individuals were followed for an average of 1.4 years.
Patients exhibiting symptoms suggestive of a kind of nerve injury, known as peripheral neuropathy, were chosen. The nerves outside the spinal cord and brain's central nervous system are injured. Before the illness, none of the trial subjects had any nerve damage. The Covid illness was mild in 16 of the 17 cases, with one individual requiring urgent care.
After the experts declared that they had ruled out all other plausible reasons for the patients' symptoms, they performed a battery of tests to see if the nerves were harmed. "Nerves that govern things like our respiration, blood arteries, and digestion are destroyed in certain cases in these long-Covid users," said Anne Louise Oaklander, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and the study's principal author.
Small fiber neuropathy was diagnosed
The great majority of long-COVID patients have small fibre neuropathy, which is caused by damage to tiny nerve fibres that perceive sensation and govern involuntary body systems including the circulatory system and breathing. Small fibre neuropathy often manifested themselves within a month of the initiation of Covid-19 illness. The infection may have caused immune system dysfunction.
Previous research has shown similar links. A link, for example, has previously been demonstrated between nerve fibre injury in the cornea and a diagnosis of long-Covid illness.
Eleven of the seventeen patients in the current research were on steroid or intravenous immunoglobulin treatment. This is a common therapy for people who have mild nerve fibre injury as a result of an immunological response. Some people's situations have improved, but no one has been totally cured.
"Immunotherapy may be beneficial," said neuroimmunologist Avindra Nath of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who was also a co-author on the research.
Fatigue, fast heartbeat, shortness of breath, cognitive problems, chronic discomfort, sensory abnormalities, and muscular weakness are all signs of Long Covid. It is estimated that up to 30% of those infected with Covid-19 would develop Long Covid.