Ramirez, PhD, professor at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and principal investigator on the new study told Contagion®. “For example, some patients with COVID-19 have reported neurological symptoms such as headache, dizziness and trouble thinking or concentrating (colloquially the term ‘COVID fog’ or ‘brain fog’ has been used). One possibility is that if the virus enters the bloodstream it could find its way into the brain.

“It has become better appreciated that this deadly pathogen (SARS-CoV-2) could have negative effects on brain function,” Servio H. The research, published in Neurobiology of Disease, provides a possible explanation for neurological symptoms experienced by 30 to 80 percent of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Spike proteins on the SARS-CoV-2 virus promote inflammatory responses that disrupt the blood-brain barrier, which could explain neurological symptoms, ranging from dizziness, headache and loss of concentration to microclots and encephalitis, a new study found.

Mrna spike protein shedding