Post-acute COVID-19 neuropsychiatric symptoms are not associated with ongoing nervous system injury

A proportion of patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 experience a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms months after infection, including cognitive deficits, depression and anxiety. The mechanisms underpinning such symptoms remain elusive. Recent research has demonstrated that nervous system injury can occur during COVID-19. Whether ongoing neural injury in the months after COVID-19 accounts for the ongoing or emergent neuropsychiatric symptoms is unclear. Within a large prospective cohort study of adult survivors who were hospitalized for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, we analysed plasma markers of nervous system injury and astrocytic activation, measured 6 months post-infection: neurofilament light, glial fibrillary acidic protein and total tau protein. We assessed whether these markers were associated with the severity of the acute COVID-19 illness and with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms (as measured by the Patient Health Questionnaire for depression, the General Anxiety Disorder assessment for anxiety, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for objective cognitive deficit and the cognitive items of the Patient Symptom Questionnaire for subjective cognitive deficit) at 6 months and 1 year post-hospital discharge from COVID-19. No robust associations were found between markers of nervous system injury and severity of acute COVID-19 (except for an association of small effect size between duration of admission and neurofilament light) nor with post-acute neuropsychiatric symptoms. These results suggest that ongoing neuropsychiatric symptoms are not due to ongoing neural injury

Molecular detection of protozoan parasites in ticks infesting cattle entering Nigeria through a major trans-boundary route in Ogun state.

There is a significant influx of cattle to Nigeria from neighbouring countries on daily basis along the transboundary areas without any form of veterinary inspection or quarantine. An assessment of protozoan parasite load in the ticks infesting cattle entering the country by hooves through a major trans-boundary route in Ogun State was carried out using Polymerase Chain Reaction and sequencing. The prevalence of Babesia bovis and B. bigemina in Boophilus ticks was 14/92 (15.2%) and 16/92 (17.4%) respectively. There was no detectable band for the Trypanosoma species and Ehrlichia ruminantium specific PCR. The prevalence of B. bovis, B. bigemina and Theileria annulata in Rhipicephalus ticks were 6/22 (27.3%), 4/22 (18.2%) and 4/22 (18.2%) respectively. The Amblyomma and Hyalomma ticks screened were not positive for any of the parasites. This is the first report on protozoan parasites detected in ticks infesting cattle entering Nigeria through a major trans-boundary route in Nigeria. The study shows that cattle entering Nigeria from Burkina Faso, Benin Republic, Niger Republic, Mali, Togo and Cote d’Ivoire are infested with adult ticks of various genera harbouring protozoan parasites that are pathogenic to cattle. Hence, we recommend that quarantine centres be established by government to screen and treat infected animals entering the country.Keywords: Cattle, Nigeria, PCR, Protozoans, Ticks, Trans-Boundary Rout