Whereas it once appeared more related to pulmonary disorders, Long COVID is increasingly being recognized as a neurological disease, reports Scientific American magazine in its latest issue. Victims with symptoms such as pain, extreme fatigue, and “brain fog” affecting over 15 million adults in the U.S. as of March 2023.

The syndrome has forced millions of Americans out of the workforce and often affects healthy young people, even after mild infections. The risk is higher in those hospitalized for COVID, older adults, women, people with socioeconomic disadvantages, smokers, and those with autoimmune diseases.

While the SARS-CoV-2 virus is new, postviral syndromes have long been recognized. Research on other viruses, especially the neurological damage caused by HIV, is helping to guide the study of long COVID. Recognizing that long COVID’s wide-ranging effects may be rooted in the brain and nervous system is shaping new approaches to its medical treatment.

Potential silver lining: Researchers see this narrowing of focus as a positive development.

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