Nerve damage may explain some cases of long Covid: US study | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
June 13, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2025
Nerve damage may explain some cases of long Covid: US study

Coronavirus chronicle

Reuters
02 March, 2022, 11:25 am
Last modified: 02 March, 2022, 02:34 pm

Related News

  • Covid hospitals in Chattogram face ICU, testing kit crisis amid rising infections
  • 10 more Covid-19 cases reported in country
  • DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Tourist surge raises fresh Covid-19 concerns in Rangamati
  • Covid-19 is back but these 5 simple habits can still keep you safe

Nerve damage may explain some cases of long Covid: US study

Reuters
02 March, 2022, 11:25 am
Last modified: 02 March, 2022, 02:34 pm
A man wearing a protective face mask walks past a mural on a street, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Mumbai, India, January 10, 2022. Photo: Reuters
A man wearing a protective face mask walks past a mural on a street, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Mumbai, India, January 10, 2022. Photo: Reuters

A small study of patients suffering from persistent symptoms long after a bout of Covid-19 found that nearly 60% had nerve damage possibly caused by a defective immune response, a finding that could point to new treatments, US researchers reported on Tuesday.

The study involved in-depth exams of 17 people with so-called long Covid, a condition that arises within three months of a Covid-19 infection and lasts at least two months.

"I think what's going on here is that the nerves that control things like our breathing, blood vessels and our digestion in some cases are damaged in these long Covid patients," said Dr Anne Louise Oaklander, a neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a lead author on the study published in Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

As many as 30% of people who have Covid-19 are believed to develop long Covid, a condition with symptoms ranging from fatigue, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, cognitive difficulties, chronic pain, sensory abnormalities and muscle weakness.

Oaklander and colleagues focused on patients with symptoms consistent with a type of nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy. All but one had had mild cases of Covid-19, and none had nerve damage prior to their infections.

After ruling out other possible explanations for the patients' complaints, the researchers ran a series of tests to identify whether the nerves were involved.

"We looked with every single major objective diagnostic test," Oaklander said. The vast majority had small fiber neuropathy - damage to small nerve fibers that detect sensations and regulate involuntary bodily functions such as the cardiovascular system and breathing.

The findings are consistent with a July study by Dr Rayaz Malik of Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar that found an association between nerve fiber damage in the cornea and a diagnosis of long Covid. 

In the current study, 11 of the 17 patients were treated with either steroids or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), a standard treatment for patients with small nerve fiber damage caused by an immune response. Some improved though none were cured.

While the results would only apply to long Covid patients with this type of nerve damage, it is possible that immunotherapy could be helpful, said Dr Avindra Nath, an expert in neuroimmunology at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and a study co-author.

"To me, it suggests that we need to do a proper prospective study of these kinds of patients" testing the drugs in a randomized trial, Nath said.

Top News

Nerve damage / What causes long Covid? / Covid -19 / Covid / Coronavirus

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Infographics: TBS
    Lengthy legal road ahead to repatriate Saifuzzaman's wealth from UK
  • From fact-checker to fact-checked: CA Press Wing’s turn in the hot seat
    From fact-checker to fact-checked: CA Press Wing’s turn in the hot seat
  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India Dreamliner crashes into Ahmedabad college hostel, kills over 290

MOST VIEWED

  • Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
    Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India Dreamliner crashes into Ahmedabad college hostel, kills over 290
  • Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    UK crime agency now freezes assets of ex-land minister Saifuzzaman: AJ
  • File Photo of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus: UNB
    Prof Yunus to receive Harmony Award from King Charles today
  • Infofgraphics: TBS
    DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Bangladesh mulls settlements with tycoons over offshore wealth: BB governor tells FT

Related News

  • Covid hospitals in Chattogram face ICU, testing kit crisis amid rising infections
  • 10 more Covid-19 cases reported in country
  • DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Tourist surge raises fresh Covid-19 concerns in Rangamati
  • Covid-19 is back but these 5 simple habits can still keep you safe

Features

Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

1d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

2d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

3d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

5d | Bangladesh

More Videos from TBS

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

6h | Podcast
What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

7h | TBS World
Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

7h | TBS Insight
Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

8h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net