Long COVID brain inflammation challenged

A new brain imaging study led by Laura Airas at the University of Turku, Finland, found no evidence of widespread brain inflammation in patients with prolonged Long COVID symptoms. Instead, the study, published in the Neurology (journal), associated severe Long COVID symptoms with increased brain activity in regions involved in mood and emotion. The research compared 14 Long COVID individuals, 11 healthy controls, and 13 Multiple sclerosis patients using PET and MRI imaging. It suggests that inflammation may be more prominent in the early phase of the disease and decrease over time, indicating that treatments targeting stress and emotional regulation might be more beneficial than anti-inflammatory therapies for prolonged symptoms.