Pressing Need for Rigorous Studies.

• Position: LONG COVID

SARS-CoV-2 initially was identified as a respiratory virus, but it can affect the entire body, including the nervous system. In a "Viewpoint" published in Science, Avindra Nath, clinical director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and Serena Spudich, professor of neurology at the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn., highlight what currently is known about the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the brain.

Neurological symptoms that have been reported with acute COVID-19 include loss of taste and smell, headaches, stroke, delirium, and brain inflammation. There does not seem to be extensive infection of brain cells by the virus, but the neurological effects may be caused by immune activation, neuroinflammation, and damage to brain blood vessels.

Acute COVID-19 infection sometimes can lead to long-lasting effects that collectively have been termed "Long COVID," and can include a wide variety of symptoms in the brain and nervous system that range from impaired concentration, fatigue, pain, sleep disorders, autonomic disorders and/or headache to psychological effects such as...