A cold many times easily loses memory

Acute viral illnesses, such as colds, can damage the brain. The level of injury gradually increases after each infection and will cause memory disorders in later stages of life, US scientists claim.

Repeated colds increase the risk of memory loss

Strongly active viruses , such as the cold virus, gray myelitis, and diarrhea, can cause damage to the hippocampus in the brain - where sensitive nerve cells are concentrated . People call this virus group picornavirus. They attack more than 1 billion people worldwide every year. On average, each of them has viral infections 2-3 times per year.

When the virus kills, the cells in the hippocampus will stop producing acetycholine , which works to strengthen short-term memory . The facts that the brain collects will not be clear and will not last long without this substance.

Many people are infected with acute diseases related to picornavirus groups several times in their lives. This explains why some older people experience serious memory disorders while not suffering from neurodegeneration (such as Alzheimer's), the scientists say.

Hippocampus region in the brain.(Photo: memorylossonline.com)

A research team from Mayo Medical University, Minnesota (USA) has trained some mice to learn how to escape the maze. After the training period, they divided them into two groups and injected Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis , which is related to the virus causing human myelitis in a group. The mice were injected immediately after, but were not paralyzed.

After the mice recovered, the scientists took both groups into the labyrinth. They found that the children who had been sick were very embarrassed when looking for a way out, while those who were not vaccinated performed well.

When analyzing a snapshot of the brain of sick mice, the team found that their hippocampus area was severely damaged.

" Our mouse study is the first to show that acute viral illnesses can impair memory, " said lead researcher Charles Howe. " We think the picornavirus family can invade the animal's brain and cause many types of damage to the brain. For example, a gray-bone virus can cause polio ."

" If the virus can cause memory loss in mice, they will be able to do the same thing in humans, " said George Kemenes of the University of Sussex (UK) and not related to the study.

Howe's team found a compound that prevents the hippocampus in the rat's brain from being damaged after being attacked by the virus. They hope that, in the near future, this compound may also have similar effects on the human body, especially those with encephalitis.

Because influenza viruses and the myeloid virus are all in the picornavirus family, Howe predicts that if someone has the flu many times, his brain may be damaged. These lesions are difficult to recognize if you only get the flu once, but the level will grow if you have the flu many times. At some point in the later stages of life, injury can cause memory problems for patients.

Howe and colleagues say they will perform brain scans to find neurologic lesions in people with acute viral infections.