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A SARS connection to brain damage?

Infection Control Monitor, September 16, 2005

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which is known to affect the respiratory tract, can also infect brain tissue and cause significant central nervous system damage, according to recent study.

Researchers from the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases and the Key Laboratory of Functional Proteomics studied the case of a 39-year-old doctor who became infected after treating SARS patients in China.

The doctor initially showed the usual symptoms of SARS, but later developed vision problems and then worsening nervous system symptoms.

Following his death, researchers examined his brain tissue and found the SARS coronavirus. More interestingly, though, they discovered a high level of Mig, an immune system regulator called a chemokine, in the bloodstream and brain.

Researchers believe that Mig may have attracted immunological cells to the site of the infection in the brain, where their inflammatory effects contributed to the brain damage.

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