Russian virologists have found that coronavirus may cause neurological complications without affecting the lungs. Loss of smell can indicate a brain dysfunction.

Professor of Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University, head of research in molecular virology and oncology Andrei Kozlov said that influenza and herpes viruses, as well as a new type of coronavirus, can lead to “brain death”.

Brain damages due to the fact that cells of the immune system begin to actively release cytokines into the blood, says Nikolai Karpov, an employee of the Institute of Biology of Tyumen State University. “This class of substances includes hundreds of complex proteins involved in many immune and inflammatory process of a human body”, the biologist explained and added that the virus can penetrate brain tissue. According to him, in rare cases, brain damage and viral respiratory infections can also cause brain damage.