Coronavirus can spread into brain and heart beyond lungs

A research finding has come out that the COVID-19 virus can spread into all human organs in a few days after communicated and it can stay in the system for months. The finding is drawing a lot of attention as it has long been a point of contention among researchers whether the coronavirus can infect the cells of other parts of the body than respiratory organs.

The Bloomberg News reported on Sunday (local time) that the researchers at the NIH found the coronavirus can spread into the brains and the heart and can replicate in human cells well beyond the respiratory tract from the analysis of tissues taken during the autopsies of 44 Covid patients.

The researchers at the NIH explained the SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in the brains of six autopsy patients who died more than a month after developing symptoms. The RNA was also found in the brains of a patient who died 230 days after symptom onset.

The researchers are currently reviewing the findings for publication in the journal Nature. Medical experts are expecting that the latest findings can help them understand the neurocognitive decline or “brain fog” and the reason behind the long-term complications found in asymptomic patients or those with milder symptoms.

On Thursday, the researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio suggested that the immune memory lasts longer after recovering from less-severe COVID-19. The scientists analyzed and compared the memory B cells in the blood from five ECMO patients and eight less-severe patients to conclude that the B cells in the patients with milder symptoms rose higher than the more severe group.


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