(ANSA) - ROME, AUGUST 08 - The loss of smell with Covid, especially if persistent, indicates a high risk of encountering cognitive and memory problems in the period following the infection, and also of persistent cognitive deficits for several months after recovery from Covid.
The risk of mnemonic deficits can be more than double if there is a covid olfactory problem.
This was revealed by research just presented at the Alzheimer's Association International congress held in San Diego, California.
Led by Gabriela Gonzalez-Alemán of the Pontifical University of Buenos Aires, the study involved nearly 800 individuals, aged 60 or older and without cognitive problems prior to Covid.
Well it emerged that, regardless of the severity of the infection, two thirds of the sample reported persistent memory problems after healing from Covid; for half of the sample problems so serious as to interfere with daily life.
Well it has been seen that completely independent of the symptoms of the infection and their severity, those who had loss of smell were more than double at risk of persistent cognitive and memory disorders even three months after recovery.
According to experts, this study further proves the fact that the coronavirus penetrates and damages the brain by breaking through the nose, as recently demonstrated in laboratory experiments by Chiara Zurzolo of the Pasteur Institute in France whose results are reported in the journal Science Advances.
The virus appears to be able to create a tunnel that allows it to pass from olfactory cells to neurons.
(HANDLE).