FEBRUARY 19, 2024

Immune Response, Not Acute Viral Infections, May Be Responsible for Neurologic Damage

By Adam Ward

For years, there has been a long-held belief that acute viral infections like Zika or COVID-19 are directly responsible for neurologic damage, but researchers from McMaster University suggested the immune system’s response may be behind these effects (Nat Commun 2024;15:896).

“We were interested in trying to understand why so many viral infections are associated with neurological diseases,” said Elizabeth Balint, a PhD student at McMaster, in Hamilton, Ontario.