Crosscut Now
Apr. 27, 2021 - After COVID, brain fog lingers
4/27/2021 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
After COVID, brain fog lingers. UW researchers are finding out why.
How does a respiratory disease leave victims with brain issues like memory loss, confusion and ‘fogginess’?
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Crosscut Now is a local public television program presented by Cascade PBS
Crosscut Now
Apr. 27, 2021 - After COVID, brain fog lingers
4/27/2021 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
How does a respiratory disease leave victims with brain issues like memory loss, confusion and ‘fogginess’?
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch Crosscut Now
Crosscut Now is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(intense inquisitive music) - I'm Starla Sampaco, in the Crosscut KCTS 9 newsroom.
(gentle inquisitive music) Robin Hayes caught COVID-19 in January, and she still has it.
Chills, sweats, exhaustion continue to plague her, but the worst for this 35-year-old nurse and competitive athlete, is the brain fog.
In conversation she struggles to find words and frequently loses her train of thought.
She can't follow simple computer games.
The long-lasting brain damage that long-haul COVID patients, like Hayes, suffer caught the attention of Seattle scientist, Dr. William Banks.
His UDaB lab previously studied the role of the blood-brain barrier in Alzheimer's disease, HIV, and diabetes.
Banks' team injected lab mice with the S1 proteins from COVID's spike-like exterior, and found that the protein can get through the blood-brain barrier, and possibly cause inflammation.
That could be a cause of brain fog, and research is ongoing.
I'm Starla Sampaco, find nonprofit, Northwest news every day on Crosscut.com.
(intense inquisitive music ends)
- News and Public Affairs
Top journalists deliver compelling original analysis of the hour's headlines.
- News and Public Affairs
FRONTLINE is investigative journalism that questions, explains and changes our world.
Support for PBS provided by:
Crosscut Now is a local public television program presented by Cascade PBS