COVID-19 Could Be Linked To Rising Brain Infections Among Children, According To A New Report
A new study conducted by the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has revealed a possible link between COVID-19 and bacterial brain infections among children.
According to a CDC report, intracranial bacterial infections “occur as a rare complication of partially treated or untreated bacterial rhinosinusitis in adolescents as well as mastoiditis in children of all ages.”
However, pediatric centers reported an uptick in these infection diagnoses throughout the first two years of the pandemic.
Moreover, they were either diagnosed during or immediately following COVID-19 infection.
The DeVos Children’s Hospital was particularly alarmed by its rates of intracranial bacterial infections among children– which increased a monstrous two hundred and thirty-six percent.
So, Dr. Rosemary Olivero– the study’s senior author and a pediatric infectious disease expert– led an inquiry.
She and her team surveyed one hundred and nine hospitals to figure out if other pediatric centers were also seeing a rise in brain abscesses and other intracranial buildups amidst COVID-19.
And of the hospitals surveyed, forty-three percent reported rising brain infections. Dr. Olivero recognizes that the occurrences may just be a coincidence.
But, she also detailed how the weakened immune state COVID-19 patients experience may give way for the intracranial bacterial infections to manifest.
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“There is a really complicated interplay of the immune system and the bacteria that actually live in those respiratory spaces,” Dr. Olivero began.
“So, viral infections come first, and then the bacterial infections can result from that initial viral infection. Most of these more invasive brain infections that we see actually originate from the sinuses,” she continued.
Nonetheless, it is hard to know if there is a definitive link between COVID-19 and the infection surge.
Dr. Olivero also considered that a lack of routine check-ups and vaccinations among children could have been a contributing factor.
Additionally, the CDC has since reported that the findings in the report are subject to three limitations: the results are not representative of the entire nation, the survey response rate was low and response bias may have impacted findings, and only limited data were collected.
Even after taking the limitations into consideration, though, Dr. Olivero is still advocating for parents to be aware of the signs of brain infections among children– which generally result in persistent headaches and behavioral changes.
“Headaches in children are common, but a really persistent, new, and different type of headache should really alert parents and caregivers that there could be something else going on. [And] certainly abnormal behaviors and high fevers without explanation,” Dr. Olivero explained.
In the meantime, she and the CDC are continuing to investigate the potential link between COVID-19 and bacterial brain infections in children in hopes of finding a concrete explanation.
To read the study’s complete findings, visit the link here.
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