After a New York man was admitted to the hospital with neurological symptoms, he died. His Covid test came back positive. Is there a connection?
In the long term, COVID-19 can lead to a series of complaints that are summarized as Long Covid or Post Covid syndrome. According to experts, the coronavirus can also lead to a fatal brain disease, as shown by a case in New York (USA). Doctors at Mount Sinai Queens Hospital say COVID likely contributed to a New York City man developing fatal prion disease, according to the American Journal of Case Reports.
The New Yorker was hospitalized after a fall left him unable to walk and suffering from hallucinations. He also had involuntary contractions. “The man underwent a brain MRI, but the results were inconclusive. A CSF 14-3-3 protein test was positive, indicating the presence of prion disease. The 14-3-3 protein is a protein that can be determined in brain fluid (cerebrospinal fluid). Upon admission, the patient was found positive for COVID-19 “but had no symptoms other than typical respiratory manifestations of COVID,” according to the case study. However, his condition continued to worsen.
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Prion disease
“Approximately three weeks after hospitalization, the patient became increasingly mute and had difficulty swallowing soft foods, necessitating placement of a nasogastric tube,” the doctors wrote. “He subsequently became spastic and experienced severe pain with passive flexion and extension. Six weeks after admission, the patient died. Doctors concluded that the man’s symptoms “met the likely diagnostic criteria for prion disease.”
Prion diseases are “a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative diseases that affect humans and animals,” as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “They are characterized by long incubation periods, characteristic spongiform brain changes associated with the loss of nerve cells and the absence of an inflammatory response. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is the best-known prion disease and is known to cause unique changes in brain tissue that affect muscular coordination, affecting thinking and memory. There are about 350 cases per year in the United States.
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Other comparable cases
Due to the patient’s positive COVID-19 test, doctors researched and were able to find four comparable cases in which a person was diagnosed with prion disease following a COVID-19 infection. This fact led experts to raise the hypothesis that the new coronavirus may have contributed in some way to the development of the brain disease. However, doctors do not have 100% proof. More studies are needed. “Although it is highly likely that such cases are due to COVID-19, there is no clear evidence beyond chance findings.”
Browsing account red hour 09/25/2023, 7:59 pm | Act: September 25, 2023, 8:57 pm