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/MadroxKran MS | Public Administration Feb 03 '25

I really wonder what we're going to see pop up related to Covid in like 20 years.

10

u/MonkAndCanatella Feb 03 '25

it'll be seen as as bad if not worse than aids mark my words

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u/RubiiJee Feb 04 '25

I think that's a tad extreme. It was a bad pandemic, but it was handled relatively well in comparison to AIDS, which was ignored for years and then blamed on gays, causing a decade plus of homophobic abuse. So bad it made its way into legislation. I hope and pray nothing is as bad as AIDS, but it became so horrifically linked due to media, government and public stigma. AIDS continues to be a death sentence to this day. COVID is survivable. I don't think the two are remotely comparable.

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u/fadingsignal Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

was

Well, there's that word again. WHO says we're still in a pandemic. This whole thing isn't in the rear view mirror yet which is why it's so bad. It's still unfolding, now wholly unmitigated. People are causing grave harm with repeat infections which have tremendously high downstream effects.

CDC and WHO both said that 1 in 5 infections develop serious secondary conditions, and that list was massive, from musculoskeletal to neurological to heart to kidneys.

But because everyone is fixated on quick death being the only outcome, letting it rip is wearing everyone down one infection at a time. And the effects are delayed just long enough (weeks, months) that no connection is made because everybody is in a hurry to move on.

That's not even factoring in the impact on the immune system. Last year Yale School of Public Health published a study (one of many on this topic) showing how COVID infections impact the immune system for potentially several years, which gives rise to opportunistic infections. These record waves of tuberculosis, pneumonia and sharp increases in otherwise controlled illnesses is a pretty heavy gesture toward the consequences of repeat COVID infections.