New study shows long Covid-19 infection linked with risk of 'face blindness'

Prolonged symptoms of Covid19 may be associated with difficulty recognising faces a littleknown condition called face blindness and navigational problems according to a studyPrevious studies have shown that Covid19 can cause a range of neurological problems including the loss of smell and taste and impairments in attention memory speech and language known as brain fogThe latest research published in the journal Cortex is the first to report prosopagnosia or face blindness following symptoms consistent with Covid19The condition that can make people fail to recognise familiar faces has been estimated to affect between 2 and 25 per cent of people in the worldThe researchers assessed the case of Annie a 28yearold customer service representative and parttime portrait artist in the US who was diagnosed with Covid19 in March 2020 and suffered a symptom relapse two months laterWhen I first met Annie she told me that she was unable to recognise the faces of her family said MarieLuise Kieseler a graduate student at Dartmouth College in the US adding Annie now relies on voices to recognise peopleAnnie also experienced navigational deficits after having Covid19 She has had difficulty remembering where particular sections in her grocery store are and relies on Google maps and its pin function to remember where she parks her carThe combination of prosopagnosia and navigational deficits that Annie had is something that caught our attention because the two deficits often go hand in hand after somebody either has had brain damage or developmental deficits said study senior author Brad Duchaine a professor at DartmouthThat cooccurrence is probably due to the two abilities depending on neighbouring brain regions in the temporal lobe Duchaine said in a statementDr Vinit Suri Senior Consultant Neurology Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals New Delhi noted that the exact mechanisms by which long Covid may cause face blindness are not yet fully understood but there are several possible explanationsFirstly long Covid can cause a range of neurological symptoms which may affect the brain regions responsible for face recognition causing difficulty in processing visual information and recognising familiar faces Suri told PTISecondly Covid19 can cause inflammation and damage to the blood vessels which can lead to reduced blood flow to the brain This can cause brain damage and cognitive impairments including face blindness he addedThe research team conducted a series of tests with Annie to evaluate her problems with face recognition and determine whether she also has difficulties with other perceptual or cognitive abilitiesAlso readIndia records 699 new Covid19 cases active tally at 6559In one test Annie was sequentially presented with 60 images of celebrity faces and was asked to name them Annie correctly identified 29 per cent of the 48 celebrities whom she was familiar with as compared to most people who can correctly identify 84 per cent of familiar celebritiesThe second test was a doppelganger test Annie was shown a celebritys name and then presented with images of two faces the face of a celebrity and that of someone similar and was then asked to identify which face was the famous personShe identified the celebrity in 69 per cent of the 58 trials as compared to 87 per cent in the control groupOur results from the test with unfamiliar faces show that it wasnt just that Annie couldnt recall the name or biographical information of a famous person that she was familiar with but she really has trouble learning new identities said KieselerThe research team also obtained selfreported data from 54 individuals who had long COVID with symptoms for 12 weeks or more and 32 persons who had reported that they had fully recovered from Covid19Most respondents with long COVID reported that their cognitive and perceptual abilities had decreased since they had COVIDIt was not just a small concentration of really impaired cases but a broad majority of people in the long COVID group reported noticeable difficulties doing things that they were able to do before contracting Covid19 without any problems Kieseler saidOur study highlights the sorts of perceptual problems with face recognition and navigation that can be caused by Covid19 it is something that people should be aware of especially physicians and other health care professionalsiquest Duchaine addedDr Atul Prasad Principal Director amp HOD Neurology BLKMax Super Speciality Hospital New Delhi said this is the first report of long COVID causing prosopagnosiaThe more we study the virus the more we realise how much damage it can cause during acute infection and now after infection has settled Prasad told PTISuri noted that that not all people with long Covid will develop face blindness and the severity and duration of symptoms can vary widelyFurther research is needed to better understand the relationship between long Covid and face blindness and to develop effective treatments and interventions for those affected he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever