Covid fog?

 

It is quite real and Wired has a good article explaining what scientists have discovered Covid can do to the nervous system.

The culprit? Reactive miclogia. 

Microglia are sort of like the central nervous system’s hungry scavengers. They are immune cells that clean up the brain by chomping on dead and unwanted neural debris, among other important functions. “There’s a unique subpopulation of microglia in the white matter called axon tract microglia,” Monje says. These have a specific genetic signature, she continues, and “are exquisitely sensitive to a wide range of insults,” like inflammatory or toxic stimuli.

In response to these stimuli, microglia can become perpetually reactive. One consequence is that they can begin eating away at needed neurons or other brain cells, which further disrupts the brain’s homeostasis. In the case of Covid-19, the scientists found that this reactivity persisted even at seven weeks after infection.

One hopes that one day the fog will be lifted. We humans need every brain cell we can muster functioning properly if we are to right our ship.