I’ve posted here before about herd immunity. Prior to inoculation/vaccination, herd immunity was the result of enough people dying or surviving that the transmission of the disease (plague, smallpox, etc) was arrested in that population until the next generation of uninfected people grew up, whereupon the substrate for another round of death appeared.But let’s be clear: the survivors weren’t necessarily healthy. Many polio survivors spent the rest of their lives in an iron lung. Others had a permanent limp or other neurological disability (see, e.g., Joni Mitchell).With COVID, many survivors report neurological impairments like loss of taste, brain fog, anxiety or depression, as well as respiratory issues. Recent imaging studies of the brains of early
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Joel Eissenberg considers the following as important: brain damage, COVID infection, Healthcare, Hot Topics, Long COVID
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But let’s be clear: the survivors weren’t necessarily healthy. Many polio survivors spent the rest of their lives in an iron lung. Others had a permanent limp or other neurological disability (see, e.g., Joni Mitchell).
With COVID, many survivors report neurological impairments like loss of taste, brain fog, anxiety or depression, as well as respiratory issues. Recent imaging studies of the brains of early COVID survivors have pinpointed the sites in the brain that are affected:
“The 31 patients included in the study had all been hospitalized with COVID-19 towards the beginning of the pandemic, before vaccines were available. Like many patients admitted to hospital with the infection at the time, they commonly reported lingering symptoms like breathlessness, fatigue, and chest pain.
“At a median timepoint of 6.5 months post-discharge from hospital, the scans showed evidence of inflammation in the medulla oblongata, pons, and midbrain – all key parts of the brainstem involved in breathing.
“The fact that we see abnormalities in the parts of the brain associated with breathing strongly suggests that long-lasting symptoms are an effect of inflammation in the brainstem following COVID-19 infection,” said Rua. “These effects are over and above the effects of age and gender and are more pronounced in those who had had severe COVID-19.”
“It’s not only the physical effects of COVID that could be explained by abnormalities in the brainstem.
“Mental health is intimately connected to brain health, and patients with the most marked immune response also showed higher levels of depression and anxiety,” explained co-lead author Professor James Rowe. “Changes in the brainstem caused by COVID-19 infection could also lead to poor mental health outcomes, because of the tight connection between physical and mental health.”
While the COVID vaccines don’t prevent COVID infection, the evidence shows that the vaccines mitigate viral transmission and the symptoms of long COVID. Yesterday, I got my seventh Moderna COVID booster. I’m doing my part—you do yours!