Coronavirus May Cause Brain Damage in Children

Coronavirus May Cause Brain Damage in Children

LONDON — Children infected by the coronavirus could suffer brain damage without presenting respiratory symptoms, according to a study in JAMA Neurology.

Physicians from a hospital in London examined 27 children with an inflammatory syndrome related to COVID-19 related inflammation.

They discovered that four of the patients, or 14.8 percent, developed additional neurological symptoms. The documented symptoms include headache and encephalopathy, muscle weakness, reduced reflexes, and signs of damage in the cerebellum and brainstem.

All four had required intensive care.

According to the study, inflammation may have affected the children's corpus callosum, a brain structure that mediates the left and right hemispheres, because they detected signal changes within the structure.