COVID In Your Cranium? It’s More Likely Than You Think

Written by Grace Yuan

As its name suggests, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2, or SARS-CoV-2, primarily affects the respiratory system. However, it has a multitude of side effects whose connections to the virus don’t seem immediately apparent, like loss of smell (anosmia) and hallucinations.1

Looking at the bigger picture

SARS-CoV-2 belongs to a family of viruses named for the spiky, crown-like arrangement of proteins on their surface known as coronaviruses. In general, SARS-CoV-2 uses its spikes to recognize and enter human cells through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2(ACE2) receptors.3Along the upper respiratory tract to the brain are ACE2 receptors, which may explain symptoms like loss of smell due to invasion of the olfactory nerves2 or psychosis due to damage to the central nervous system.4

Why didn’t we see this coming?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, funding for coronavirus vaccine research was hard to get because it was not clear whether these viruses could infect humans, and the short-lived outbreaks of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV did not help the case.5 So, the current COVID-19 pandemic is revealing a lot about not only coronaviruses but also our priorities in public health. Understanding viruses by their key components helps us to quickly identify and prevent the spread of dangerous diseases.

Header image: Image taken from Reference 4.

• References

  1. Deigendesch, N., Sironi, L., Kutza, M. et al. Correlates of critical illness-related encephalopathy predominate postmortem COVID-19 neuropathology. Acta Neuropathol 140, 583–586 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-020-02213-y

  2. Meunier, N., Briand, L., Jacquin-Piques, A., Brondel, L., & Pénicaud, L. (2021). COVID 19-Induced Smell and Taste Impairments: Putative Impact on Physiology. Frontiers in physiology, 11, 625110. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.625110

  3. Mittal, A., Manjunath, K., Ranjan, R. K., Kaushik, S., Kumar, S., & Verma, V. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic: Insights into structure, function, and hACE2 receptor recognition by SARS-CoV-2. PLoS pathogens, 16(8), e1008762. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1008762

  4. Paterson, R. W., Brown, R. L., Benjamin, L., Nortley, R., Wiethoff, S., Bharucha, T., Jayaseelan, D. L., Kumar, G., Raftopoulos, R. E., Zambreanu, L., Vivekanandam, V., Khoo, A., Geraldes, R., Chinthapalli, K., Boyd, E., Tuzlali, H., Price, G., Christofi, G., Morrow, J., McNamara, P., … Zandi, M. S. (2020). The emerging spectrum of COVID-19 neurology: clinical, radiological and laboratory findings. Brain : a journal of neurology, 143(10), 3104–3120. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awaa240

  5. Wong, G., & Qiu, X. (2018). Funding vaccines for emerging infectious diseases. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 14(7), 1760–1762. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1412024