Reference News Network reported on June 9 According to a report by Japan’s “Mainichi Shimbun” on June 7, the sequelae of the new coronary pneumonia that persisted for more than half a year after recovery has become a social problem. Although the detailed pathogenesis remains unclear, studies focusing on the brain are gaining attention. Will this lead to new treatments?
“Fatigue and forgetfulness are very serious.” A 38-year-old male staff member seeking treatment for “coronavirus sequelae” at the Hirabata Clinic told doctors that he had experienced a decline in thinking and concentration since the beginning of this year Case. The director of the clinic, Koichi Hirahata, believes that his symptoms are sequelae of the new crown and have worsened.
The patient was infected with the new coronavirus in August 2021. Due to the lack of vaccination, he had a high fever of 40 degrees for four or five days in a row. Although it took only three weeks from diagnosis to return to work, he was still plagued by sequelae. Unable to concentrate on work, forgetting to send emails, passing stops in the car. Contrary to the expectation of “recovery soon”, the symptoms continued to worsen.
After reporting the story to his boss, the man was told that “it’s hard for other colleagues to do this, so let’s figure out a solution for yourself.” Although the problem of forgetfulness has improved after receiving treatment, the fatigue still persists. In May this year, he submitted an application for a three-month suspension to the unit. “I don’t know how long the sequelae will last… Even if I can continue to work, I will be worried about whether I can return to my previous working state.”
In April, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released a separate volume of diagnosis and treatment guidelines – ” Sequelae Management (1st Edition). Judging from the foreign cases included in it, among the 9,751 patients who claimed to have sequelae, 40% felt fatigued, 36% had difficulty breathing, 24% had anosmia, and 22% were emotionally unstable.
On June 1, the research team of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced the current situation of the sequelae of the new crown in China. Of the 756 people who had been hospitalized with symptoms of moderate or higher severity, 13.6 percent remained fatigued one year after discharge.
Koryo Shimobata, a professor of neurology at Gifu University who is in charge of the compilation of the volume, appealed: “The sequelae can be said to be a continuation of the new coronavirus, or it can be said that they have contracted new diseases due to infection with the new coronavirus. Some patients even Mental problems are caused by the continued poor physical condition. It is necessary to establish some sequelae diagnosis and treatment centers with multiple specialized departments.”
So why do sequelae occur? Professor Shibata believes that inflammation and neurological disorders in the brain need special attention.
In a non-peer-reviewed paper published by Yale University and other research institutions in the United States in January this year, it was found after testing laboratory mice that were infected with the new coronavirus in their lungs and developed mild symptoms, Although only mild, the inflammation in the brain persisted for seven weeks.
When levels of cytokines (a substance that triggers inflammation) were measured 7 days and 7 weeks after infection, it was found not only in the lungs, but also in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid. In other words, this result suggests that it is possible that cytokines produced in the lungs infected with the new crown are transported to the brain through the blood and trigger inflammation.
When the brain nerve cells of the experimental mice were further tested, it was found that there were changes in many experimental mice. When information is transmitted between nerve cells, one-third of the substances that make the transmission path disappear. This shows that there is an abnormality in the transmission of information. Nerve regeneration stalled in the hippocampus, which controls memory.
Iwasaki Akiko, a professor of immunology at Yale University in the research team, believes: “In the brains of patients infected with the new crown, cytokines also increased. If humans have the same changes as experimental mice, I’m afraid there will be various sequelae symptoms.”
Research on intracerebral blood flow is also underway. According to Takashi Yamamura, Distinguished Research Director of the Institute of Neurology, National Center for Psychiatry and Neurological Research, Japan, “When imaging tests were performed on the brains of patients with sequelae, it was found that some people had decreased blood flow levels.”
If a more detailed examination is carried out, it will be found that “autoantibodies” are produced in their bodies, which may hinder the work of the autonomic nerves that regulate blood pressure, body temperature, and internal organs. Abnormal blood flow. Yamamura believes that, through imaging tests, it was found that the blood flow to the brain has dropped to a very slow level, and the brain naturally cannot function normally.
Photo caption: On September 10, 2020, in a clinic in Madrid, Spain, a patient is receiving rehabilitation treatment for the sequelae of the new crown. (Visual China)