Coronavirus

“This is why vaccination is critical.”

A Harvard doctor is raising concerns about the potential long-term impacts COVID-19 may have on the brain. 

Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a physician and lecturer on global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, told NBC News on Saturday that a new study published last Tuesday shows the “true impact” the coronavirus can have on the brain. 

According to the doctor, it is the first study to compare scans of the brain both before and after the participant was diagnosed with COVID-19. The researchers found a “loss in grey matter” in three areas of the brain. 

“We’re seeing a shrinkage in the study in three main areas, and these areas are responsible for taste and smell, memory, and emotion,” Nerurkar told NBC.

While the new study bring scientists and physicians another step closer to understanding the development of COVID-19’s impacts on the brain and the long-term impacts known as “Long COVID,” the results should also be a warning, since the brain changes were found in people who had mild cases of the illness and did not require hospitalization, she wrote on Twitter.

The study also leaves unanswered questions, including if the damage to the brain is reversible or permanent. 

“This is why vaccination is critical,” Nerurkar wrote. “To prevent Covid and these potential brain changes from Covid.”