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COVID-19 can cause worrying neurological symptoms like a loss of smell and taste, but Australian scientists are warning the damage the virus causes to the brain may also lead to more serious conditions such as Parkinson's disease.
[...] It has happened before.
Five years after the Spanish flu pandemic in the early 1900s, there was up to a three-fold increase in the incidence of Parkinson's disease.
Kevin Barnham from the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health said he believed a similar "silent wave" of neurological illness would follow this pandemic.
"Parkinson's disease is a complex illness, but one of the causes is inflammation, and the virus helps to drive that inflammation," he said.
"Once the inflammation gets into the brain, it starts a cascade of events which can ultimately lead to Parkinson's disease.
Researchers outlined their concerns in a study published today in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease.
The process is known as the "two-hit hypothesis".
The brain gets inflamed from something like a virus, then something else comes along later causing more damage and eventually Parkinson's disease develops.
"Evidence is already suggesting the triggers for Parkinson's disease are there with this virus," Professor Barnham said.
Medical experts said it was too early to know how many people who had COVID-19 would go on to develop the disease.
"I believe the risk is real," Professor Barnham said.
"We can't put a number on it, but with 30 million people worldwide affected by this virus, even a small shift in the risk of getting Parkinson's would lead to many more people being diagnosed.
See also: Neurological consequences of COVID-19: The 'Silent Wave'.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 24 2020, @04:48PM (6 children)
How many months of mask wearing, lockdowns and overall acquiescence will it take to eliminate this virus, and why didn't we just do this to eliminate every other virus in history, back before global supply chains and widespread international travel? Wouldn't it have been even simpler back then?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday September 24 2020, @05:17PM (4 children)
It doesn't work that way.
But that is a good example of the begging the question fallacy since the person you are responding to never said it did.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 24 2020, @07:06PM (2 children)
The "second wave" that the lockdown-happy locations are enjoying at the moment, was predicted by everyone sane right at the beginning as the result to expect from all that monkeying about. Remind me, what you and your brothers-in-crazy were promising then?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 24 2020, @07:12PM (1 child)
I thought the second wave was in June; what we're seeing now is either latent infections due to mass testing or perhaps a third wave because some governments have tried to delay the herd immunity that develops with every other virus that pops up every year.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 24 2020, @08:59PM
The first wave never went away since we didn't lockdown fully and too many people didn't take proper precautions. The first wave is when infections spike, you get it under control and infections drop drastically, and then it makes a resurgence when people think it is gone and return to normal. So far infections have only been climbing faster and faster in the US.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 24 2020, @07:10PM
Damn right it doesn't work that way. It is a pandemic, so by definition you either get it or a precious vaccine is discovered before you do so. Trying to avoid it is like trying to push back the ocean. Perhaps a viable course of action if you have nothing better to do with your life (like if you're retired and at real risk), but not for people working to keep their families (not really at risk).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 24 2020, @05:45PM
Yeah! Everybody knows the Covid is all a conspiracy to force upstanding Christians into wear niqabs.