After the increase in Covid cases in Italy in recent weeks, driven this summer by the new variants, a decline is recorded in the latest bulletin provided by the Ministry of Health. In particular, the cases registered from August 15 to August 21 have fallen to 13,690: this is a decrease of 16% compared to last week, when the recorded Covid cases were 16,299. As for the number of deaths, it remains stable: there were 99 compared to 100 the previous week.
On the other hand, the number of tests conducted in our country is also decreasing, which in turn reduces the positivity rate. Regarding the tests performed, there were 72,266 compared to 85,069 the previous week. Thus, the positivity rate, which was at 19.2% last week, has dropped to 18.9%.
Meanwhile, research continues to learn more about this virus we still know very little about. For example, scientists have discovered a mutation in SARS-CoV-2 that plays a crucial role in its ability to enter the central nervous system, namely the brain. This discovery was made by scientists from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois-Chicago, who believe this study could help understand the neurological symptoms and the mystery of Long Covid, and could lead to new treatments to protect the nervous system and eliminate the virus from the brain in the future.
COVID INFECTIONS, STUDY ON BRAIN INFECTION: THE IMPLICATIONS
The results of this study, for which some types were infected, have been published in the scientific journal Nature Microbiology: if in the lungs the spike protein is similar to the virus used to infect rodents, in the brain a mutation has been detected in a specific and important region of the protein. Therefore, the virus with this deletion is much better at infecting the brains of mice, so it needs to change to move from the lungs to the brain.
According to Professor Judd Hultquist from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who is one of the authors of this study, this discovery could have significant implications for the treatment and management of neurological symptoms experienced by some Covid patients. What needs to be clarified through further studies is what causes Long Covid, specifically what initiates it. Currently, there are two hypotheses: it may be caused by direct infection of the brain cells or there could be a correlation with some adverse immune response. If the first hypothesis is correct, specific treatments could be identified.
According to Professor Justin Richter, co-corresponding author, the generation of new variants in the brain could produce new concerning variants in the population: “It is possible that the virus uses these different tissue sites to evolve into different new variants, which can then return to the respiratory tract and spread in the population. Potentially, this could be a source of new concerning variants emerging in the population.”