r/science • u/Wagamaga • Feb 03 '25
Neuroscience Scientists discover that even mild COVID-19 can alter brain proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease, potentially increasing dementia risk—raising urgent public health concerns.
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/260553/covid-19-linked-increase-biomarkers-abnormal-brain/
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u/intangible_cactus Feb 03 '25
Hi there, Canadian medical student and very soon to be resident MD with graduate scientific background in microbiology/immunology.
I think it’s important to note that vaccination itself is really meant as a way to keep you out of the hospital, it does not necessarily prevent infection. This is a big reason why there has been a large push (multibillion dollar effort) through the US Project NextGen and by many scientists to generate next generation vaccines. These are things like variant proof vaccines to keep people out of the hospital with greater success, while also creating mucosal vaccines (vaccines people could inhale, take as a pill, or squirt up the nose essentially) that create a defensive barrier at the nose and lungs. These thought is that this would finally curb transmission, which is unfortunately rampant as people have abandoned things that protect them from catching COVID. You can read a bit about that here including progress as of late January 2025.
If you really want to prevent getting and giving COVID (of which there are many studies suggesting that infection is quite harmful), I would suggest the following:
Wear a respirator: things like N95s/KN95s are important to consider given that these are highly effective at preventing exposure to the virus itself. It spreads through the air as aerosols that people make when they breathe/talk/sing etc, and they linger in spaces like cigarette smoke for hours. Empirically wearing a respirator in public (even if other people aren’t around) makes sure you don’t breathe these in. As aerosols (not contact) are the primary way it spreads, you will find most interventions revolve around them.
Purify the air: using an air purifier with a HEPA filter or corsi-rosenthal box are good ways to clean those aerosols out of the air.
Increase ventilation: if you bring more fresh air in (opening windows, turning your HVAC system to “on” instead of “auto”), it can circulate more air into a space and dilute those aerosols mentioned before. Dilution is the solution to this pollution.
The above is really important as nearly half) of people with an infection don’t show any symptoms, meaning people you spend time with may actually have COVID and you wouldn’t even know. You could walk down a hallway or enter a room where someone was that had it, and breathe in a high enough dose to cause an infection as well given those aerosols linger sometimes for hours as before.
Importantly, exposure to pathogens isn’t something we want. As you can read about many pathogens, they are inherently harmful which is why we do our best to avoid them, or alternatively vaccinate against them so the harm they cause is reduced. Microbes we live with, called commensals, are beneficial and we have exposure to them all the time. So keeping COVID, flu, RSV, or whatever else out of your life is imperative. It’ll also keep everyone safer. I know I have seen my fair share of people die from or be disabled by COVID/long COVID respectively, but we definitely have the tools to fight against it and prevent that suffering.