Jakarta – SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic, appears to linger in the skull and meninges for years after infection. This triggers long-term effects on the brain, according to a large study in Germany.
Researchers from Helmholtz Munich and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) discovered that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein remains in the protective layers of the brain, known as the meninges, and the bone marrow of the skull for up to four years after infection.
This spike protein is responsible for causing chronic inflammation in individuals affected by COVID, increasing the risk of neurodegenerative diseases.
Prof. Ali Ertürk, Director of the Smart Biotechnology Institute at Helmholtz Munich, stated that the long-term neurological impact includes accelerated brain aging, which could lead to the loss of healthy brain function over the next five to 10 years in affected individuals.
The study, published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, also suggests that long-term COVID neurological symptoms such as headaches, sleep disturbances, brain fog, and cognitive impairments may occur.
Approximately 5 to 10 percent of those infected with COVID are likely to experience long COVID or long-term symptoms. The research revealed that around 400 million people may carry large amounts of the spike protein.
“Specifically, vaccination against the deadly virus significantly reduces the accumulation of spike protein in the brain,” said the researchers, as quoted by NDTV.
“However, the reduction is only about 50 percent in mice, leaving residual spike protein that continues to pose a toxic risk to the brain,” the researchers added.
For the study, the team developed a new AI-powered imaging technique to understand how the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein affects the brain.
This method, offering three-dimensional visualization of the viral protein, was used to detect the distribution of the spike protein, which had previously gone undetected in tissue samples from COVID patients and mice.
The findings revealed a significant increase in the concentration of spike protein in the skull bone marrow and meninges, even years after infection.
