Monday, July 22, 2024

It's World Brain Day!

The WHO announced it on twitter with a list of things to do for a health brain: be active, eat well, sleep well, stimulate your mind, look after your heart, and wear a helmet. Hmmm.... it feels like something's missing!!

Just last Tuesday, the CDC Report on Disability indicated another brain issue: Covid. From McKnights Long-Term Care News

"Cognitive disability emerged as the most prevalent disability in the United States in 2022, affecting 13.9% of adults."

No mention of masks or cleaner air in there, of course. They're still all about vax and relax, despite it being so obviously ineffective on its own.

Then last Friday, Time Magazine featured an article on Covid's effect on the brain:

"Covid-19 is associated with possibly long-lasting changes to the brain, potentially contributing to cognitive problems like brain fog, mental fatigue, and memory loss, as well as neurological and mental-health issues. The virus seems able to damage blood vessels and support cells in the brain and may kickstart changes to the immune system that also affect brain function. . . . There are people in their 30s and 40s who have neurocognitive deficits that look like mild dementia. . . . Covid-19 can hinder cognitive performance among adults of all ages, even those who ostensibly recover fully . . . particularly on measures of memory function, executive function--for example your ability to decision-make and plan--and reasoning. . . . The results equated to about a 3-IQ-point deficit among people who recovered completely from COVID-19 versus those who'd never had it. Among people with unresolved Long Covid symptoms and those who'd been admitted to the ICU, the deficits jumped to 6 and 9 IQ points respectively. . . . The cognitive risks of Covid-19 are yet another reason to stay up-to-date on vaccines adn avoid infection if at all possible." 

Once again, let's max the vax and not mention masks or clean air. The absence of discussion of the efficacy of masks and cleaner air to prevent cases should be questionable to even the most ardent mask-skeptic. It's like they've never even heard of them!!

Dr. James Throt (a fake name for a real doctor) says, 

"At some point, people will stop being surprised by the behaviours I've been incessantly tweeting that will happen across the population due to covid damaging the frontotemporal region of the brain. I sound like a broken record at this point. FT damage can cause hypomania":



This brain connection isn't new information at all, of course. 

In January 2021, we learned that Covid induces "brain fog" and may result in behavioural changes that favour viral survival, similar to toxoplasmosis.
In February 2021, it looked like Covid might favour the frontal lobe in the brain, causing delirium and encephalitis, just like Dr. Throt said.
In September 2021, Kenneth Podell wrote an article in Molecular Neurobiology explaining the multiple neuroinvasive pathways used by Covid-19.
In December 2021, National Geographic reported on Covid affecting personality, making people confused, impulsive, irrational, depressed, or paranoid.
In January 2022 Colin Furness warned on TVO that Covid-19 is a brain-invasive virus.
In March 2022, came the UK Biobank study in Nature study showing clear changes in the brain structure before and after infection.
In April 2022, a study noticed SARS-CoV-2 causes brain inflammation and induces Lewy body formations, which can cause Lewy Body Dementia, which includes fluctuating alertness, hallucinations, and Parkinson's-like movement issues.
In June 2022, Science Focus reported Covid-19 could be linked to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and brain bleeding; it was later reported in the American Academy of Neurology as well.
In July 2022, Scientific American reported that Covid shrinks the brain by tunnelling through nanotubes.
In August 2022,CIDRAP article explained that 7% of kids have seizures and brain damage after Covid, and The Lancet reported that a study of over a million people with matched controls found a "persisting increased risk of post-Covid cognitive deficit, dementia, psychotic disorders, and epilepsy or seizures." Also, it was found that Covid ages the brain.  
In September 2022, The Atlantic explained that "brain fog" isn't just being a little out of it, but a "disorder of executive function that makes basic cognitive tasks absurdly hard."
In October 2022, a GP in Wales explained how Covid gets into cells using ACE2 receptors, hiding in brain cells, and MRIs show shrinking of the whole brain after Covid.
In January 2023, a BMJ study of over 300,000 people found half had concentration and memory problems a year after infection, and another study found that 1/3 of people still couldn't return to work at least two years after Covid.
In February 2023, it was reported that Covid causes a sudden rapid decrease in cognitive ability and accelerates dementia with brain imaging showing a lot more white matter in the brain in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease Reports, AND, a study published in Molecular Psychiatry found that 5 times as many people with Covid couldn't copy a complex diagram compared to people without Covid. They demonstrated "selective visuoconstructional impairment", which could have implications in driving.
In March 2023, Harvard published about Covid and brain damage. 
In April 2023, a study showed SARS-CoV-2 infection accelerates dementia.
In May 2023, Dr. Wes Ely wrote an article and thread explaining how the brain is affected with lots of studies. 
In June 2023, Dr. Yazi Ke found that Covid fuses glial cells together (also here and here), making areas of useless masses of neurons in the brain "like HIV, rabies, Japanese encephalitis" that she thinks is "quite permanent." AND a study in The Lancet also indicated that the cognitive decline is permanent. Also in June 2023, Nature published on the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the brain and memory, also citing headaches, autonomic dysfunction, and loss of brain volume.
In July 2023, The Tyee reported that brain fog is really the brain atrophying.
In September 2023, The Lancet reported on MRI abnormalities associated with severe and very severe persistent mental health impairment. 
In October 2023, neuroscientist, Dr. Clair Taylor, explained how Covid causes cognitive dysfunction as if the brain is on fire, and a study in Cell demonstrated that serotonin is stored in platelets, with the largest stores outside the brain, which get damaged by LongCovid, potentially causing dramatic mood changes (sadness, irritability, anger).  
In November 2023, a thread on Twitter from Raffy Flynn listed 100 ways Covid affects us, also in November 2023, we found out that Covid affects neural processing in our dogs as well.
In December 2023, neuroscientist Dani Beckman made a video showed that you see the virus in the brain using microscopy. Also in December 2023, the Harvard Business Review published Britta Domke's article prodding business leaders to take charge because of evidence that Covid chronically diminishes brain activity.
In January 2024, The Lancet confirmed cognitive decline after Covid with severe impairment in 19.4% of people without indicators for Long Covid, and 53.5% of people with Long Covid. Also in January 2024, a study in Sweden found a third of people 16-29 have moderate or severe memory loss. A third of all people, not just people with Covid!! Our society is changing dramatically in front of our eyes.
In February 2024, studies found new evidence that Long Covid could be a brain injury equal to 20 years of brain aging.

And that's just what I've written about! 

We've known about it a while, but the mainstream media is either catching up on the science or finally allowed to write about it more openly, but only if they promote meds over non-pharmaceutical interventions (like masks and clean air). 

Maybe except if the meds come from China??

China has been giving Azvudine to treat Covid-19 since 2022, and it shows four times the improvement in symptoms. I'm just speculating that the fact that it's made and distributed by Genuine Biotech instead of Pfizer or Moderna (McKinsey affiliated companies) might have something to do with it. It could also be that the drug is successful with HIV+ patients too, and we are loath to admit any connection between Covid and AIDS. Laura Miers describes getting Covid in early 2020, and being tested for HIV over and over because that's what her labs and symptoms looked like. 

"We will NEVER make progress until governments and medicine accept SARS-CoV-2 causes immunodeficiency. We will continue blaming all the wrong things because it's cheaper and more profitable for our corporate overlords. We will continue to court collapse and maim all the children. It's a road to nowhere, but it's the cheapest and most politically convenient path, so that's what we get."  

But finally some American companies are testing repurposed HIV antivirals (TDF and Maraviroc). That will be a while to get through trials and get to market. Imagine if we had a global push to consolidate all medical science. 

Until then, for the love of all that is good in this world, keep your brain alive with an N95!! 

Oh, and if you think masks don't do anything useful, The Lancet just published a study that shows face coverings dramatically reduce transmission - as much as 98% for N95s. AND if you think it's just a cold, here's just one example of how different it is, from @emmtheegem:


ETA; This from Danielle Beckman: "This is probably the worst case of neuroCovid I've ever seen. This patient was discharged from the hospital with a a diagnosis of stress."

ETA: August 2024 study -- They found the virus becomes more genetically diverse in the brain, regardless of whether the host was previously vaccinated. This suggests the brain acts as an incubator for the virus to diversify.
ETA: October 2024 study -- Comparing children post-Covid to a control group found "more severe symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, opposition, a wide range of emotional and behavioral problems, and poor school functions, school attitude, social interaction, school behavioral problems, and interaction problems with their parents."
ETA - October 2024 study -- Found Covid increases risk of car crashes as much as drinking. "The OR of car crashes associated with Covid-19 was comparable to driving under the influence of alcohol at legal limits or driving with a seizure disorder," due to neurological changes. They "did not find a protective effect of vaccination against increased crash risk." 
ETA - November 2024 study -- Based on studies of random human autopsies, 60% of the population experiences viral spike persistence in their brain after just one Covid infection, persisting long after viral clearance, with biomarkers for neurodegeneration.

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