{"id":3926,"date":"2026-01-15T14:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/15\/long-covid-sufferers-have-heightened-dementia-risk\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T14:02:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:02:21","slug":"long-covid-sufferers-have-heightened-dementia-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/15\/long-covid-sufferers-have-heightened-dementia-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Covid sufferers have heightened dementia risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2026-01-15 14:02:19<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>Long Covid may carry a worrying legacy for the brain, with scientists warning that persistent neurological symptoms after infection could raise the risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease later in life.<BR><br \/>\nResearchers in the US analysing blood samples from more than 225 long Covid patients found significantly increased levels of tau \u2014 a protein closely linked to Alzheimer\u2019s and other forms of dementia. <BR><br \/>\nAbnormal tau can clump together inside nerve cells, disrupting communication in the brain and driving the memory loss and cognitive decline that define the disease.<BR><br \/>\nThe findings suggest that symptoms such as brain fog, headaches, vertigo, and changes in smell or taste may not simply be lingering annoyances, but possible early warning signs of long-term neurological damage.<BR><br \/>\nDr. Benjamin Luft, an infectious disease expert and lead author of the study, said: &#8220;The long\u2013term impact of COVID-19 may be consequential years after infection and could give rise to chronic illnesses, including neurocognitive problems similar to those seen in Alzheimer\u2019s disease.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nHe added: &#8220;On a practical level, this has important implications for the development of effective vaccines and therapies to prevent acute infection before it can embed itself and lead to long\u2013term disease.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nThe study, published in the journal eBioMedicine, examined blood samples from 227 participants enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, a long-running cohort of 9\/11 first responders. <BR><br \/>\nCrucially, samples were taken both before the participants contracted Covid and again an average of 2.2 years after infection.<BR><br \/>\nResearchers focused on a specific Alzheimer\u2019s-related form of the protein, known as pTau\u2013181. <BR><br \/>\nThey found that participants who experienced neurological symptoms after Covid showed an almost 60 per cent increase in blood tau levels. Those whose cognitive problems lasted more than 18 months had significantly higher tau levels than those whose symptoms resolved sooner.<BR><br \/>\nProfessor Sean Clouston, a preventive health expert and co-author of the research, said: &#8220;Elevated tau in the blood is a known biomarker of lasting brain damage.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;These findings suggest long Covid could worsen over time, causing neurological symptoms or cognitive difficulties that progressively intensify.&#8221;<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026-01-15 14:02:19 Long Covid may carry a worrying legacy for the brain, with scientists warning that persistent neurological symptoms after infection could raise the risk of Alzheimer\u2019s disease later in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3928,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3926\/revisions\/3928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}