COVID-19 may attack patients' central nervous system

Depressed mood or anxiety exhibited in COVID-19 patients may possibly be a sign that the virus affects the central nervous system, according to an international study led by a University of Cincinnati College of Medicine researcher.zThese two psychological symptoms were most closely associated with a loss of smell and taste rather than the more severe indicators of the novel coronavirus such as shortness of breath, cough or fever, according to the study.Infrequent but severe central nervous system symptoms of COVID-19 such as seizures or altered mental status have been described, but depressed mood and anxiety may be the considerably more common but milder central nervous symptom of COVID-19, explains Sedaghat.