Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: Europe

Irish scientists discover why people with long Covid can suffer ‘brain fog’

The reason why people with long Covid can suffer from “brain fog” has been discovered by Irish scientists.

The breakthrough has profound importance for the understanding of brain fog and cognitive decline seen in some patients with the condition, according researchers at Trinity College Dublin.

It brings the possibility of new treatments for the condition, but also for other neurodegenerative illnesses such as multiple sclerosis (MS), they said.

The research, published in Nature Neuroscience on Thursday, shows disruption to the integrity of blood vessels in the brains of patients suffering from long Covid and brain fog.

Comments closed

Long Covid ‘brain fog’ may be due to leaky blood-brain barrier, study finds

From forgetfulness to difficulties concentrating, many people who have long Covid experience “brain fog”. Now researchers say the symptom could be down to the blood-brain barrier becoming leaky.

The barrier controls which substances or materials enter and exit the brain. “It’s all about regulating a balance of material in blood compared to brain,” said Prof Matthew Campbell, co-author of the research at Trinity College Dublin.

“If that is off balance then it can drive changes in neural function and if this happens in brain regions that allow for memory consolidation/storage then it can wreak havoc.”

Writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Campbell and colleagues report how they analysed serum and plasma samples from 76 patients who were hospitalised with Covid in March or April 2020, as well 25 people before the pandemic.

Comments closed

UK to scrap Covid intensive care kit despite offer to send to Ukraine

The UK government is due to scrap the country’s entire reserve of coronavirus pandemic intensive care equipment next month, despite requests to send 2,000 respirators to Ukraine.

The Covid Strategic Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Reserve was created in April 2020 due to concerns about a shortage of respiratory equipment during the pandemic. It includes 6,682 Ventura breathing aids, which are set to be disassembled and recycled by April 1, government officials have confirmed.

The Afya Foundation, a US charity that distributes disused quality medical supplies around the world, said its partners in Ukraine have confirmed hospitals there are in desperate need of additional medical equipment and it was standing by to ship 2,000 of the devices to the country.

Comments closed

‘The NHS sold out its staff’: Doctors whose lives were devastated by long COVID to sue health service

Hundreds of doctors are planning to sue the NHS over claims inadequate PPE on the frontline has left them with long COVID, disabled, and in financial ruin.

Dr Kelly Fearnley, 37, was working on a COVID ward at Bradford Royal Infirmary in November 2020 when she caught coronavirus.

More than three years later, the effects of long COVID mean she is still unable to work. After episodes of violent shakes, hallucinations, and a resting heart rate more than double the average, she was diagnosed with limbic encephalitis – inflammation of parts of the brain.

Comments closed

Spain considers nationwide hospital mask rule, as flu, COVID hit Europe

Spain’s government proposed a nationwide mandate for people to wear masks in hospitals and health clinics on Monday, and Italy said respiratory illness infection rates had hit a record, as flu and COVID spread across Europe.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control recommended that people on the continent stay home if they feel sick, and consider wearing masks in crowds or healthcare settings, with flu spreading as it typically does this time of year but hitting some countries harder than others.

Comments closed

Covid rising in England and Scotland as new variant spreads around world

Snow might not be swirling in the UK but Covid is in the air this Christmas, data has revealed, with experts warning a new variant is on the rise around the world.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), an estimated 4.2%, or one in 24 people, in England and Scotland had Covid on 13 December compared with 1.8% – or one in 55 – on 29 November.

Comments closed

Recordaantal coronavirusdeeltjes in het rioolwater

Never before have so many coronavirus particles been found in the wastewater as now. Coronavirus variant watcher Josette Schoenmakers reports this on X. At the time of writing, the national government’s coronavirus dashboard has not yet been updated with the most recent data.

Comments closed

How COVID Truthers Breathed New Life Into an Antisemitic Symbol

The widespread appropriation by COVID truthers of the yellow star that the Nazis forced Jews to wear is a sign that public displays of antisemitism have become normalised in modern Germany to an unthinkable degree, experts say.

Comments closed

How long COVID ruined my life, from crushing fatigue to brain fog

The change struck like a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky. I’d been under the weather for a couple of weeks – nothing major, just a persistent cough, but for some reason I couldn’t seem to shift it. I took a day off work and carried on. Until 19 March, when I woke up and everything was different.

I was tired – overwhelmingly, crushingly tired, as if I’d been up for days, when in fact I’d slept all night – and I couldn’t think straight. When I tried to text my boss to tell him I wasn’t going to be able to make it into work, it took me more than an hour to string a sentence together.

Eventually, I got out a short apologetic message. Then I went back to bed, where I stayed for three days straight. It should have been scary, but I was too tired to be scared. The need for rest overwhelmed every thought or feeling.

—Rowland Manthorpe
Comments closed

Column: Did Sweden beat the pandemic by refusing to lock down? No, its record is disastrous

Throughout much of the pandemic, Sweden has stood out for its ostensibly successful effort to beat COVID-19 while avoiding the harsh lockdowns and social distancing rules imposed on residents of other developed nations.

Swedish residents were able to enjoy themselves at bars and restaurants, their schools remained open, and somehow their economy thrived and they remained healthy. So say their fans, especially on the anti-lockdown right.

A new study by European scientific researchers buries all those claims in the ground. Published in Nature, the study paints a devastating picture of Swedish policies and their effects.

Comments closed

What We Can Learn from Six Countries’ Pandemic Battle Plans

Laissez-faire. Lockdowns. Mitigation. Testing. Denial. Elimination.

The world has responded to the pandemic with a diversity of strategies.

Some appear to be working well, while others are just coping or failing altogether.

And history appears to have prepared some countries better than others.

Comments closed

New research examines wastewater to detect community spread of Covid-19

A series of crucial setbacks in Covid-19 testing has made it difficult to keep up with the virus’ rapid spread, and has inspired some researchers to look to wastewater to help fill in the gap of measuring how prevalent SARS-CoV-2 is in a given community.

In a paper posted Tuesday to the preprint server medRxiv, researchers collected samples in late March from a wastewater treatment plant serving a large metropolitan area in Massachusetts and found that the amount of SARS-CoV-2 particles in the sewage samples indicated a far higher number of people likely infected with Covid-19 than the reported cases in that area.

Comments closed