New Covid study hints at the long-term loss of brain tissue, Dr. Scott warns

June 21, 2021: -On Thursday, Dr. Scott Gottlieb warned about the potential for long-term brain loss associated with Covid, which cited a new study from the United Kingdom.

“In short, the study suggested that there could be a long-term loss of brain tissue from Covid, and that would have few long-term consequences,” the former FDA chief said.

“You could compensate for that over time, so the symptoms of that may go away, but you’re never going to regain the tissue if it’s being destroyed as a result of the virus,” said Gottlieb, who is serving on the board of Covid vaccine-maker Pfizer.

Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and a member of Pfizer’s boards, genetic testing start-up Tempus, a healthcare tech company Aetion Inc. and biotech company Illumina.

The study of U.K. examined brain imaging before and after a coronavirus is affected and looked in detail at the potential effect on the nervous system.

Gottlieb explained that the destruction of brain tissue could explain the reason for Covid patients losing their sense of smell.

“The diminishment in the amount of cortical tissue happened to be in regions of the brain that are close to the places that are responsible for smell,” he said.

 “What it suggests is that the smell, the loss of smell, is just an effect of a more primary process that’s underway, and that process is shrinking of cortical tissue,” he added.