James Throt MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPath Profile picture
Aug 22, 2025 22 tweets 3 min read Read on X
As a neurologist, I can’t ignore what I’ve been noticing, both professionally and socially.

People are not the same as they were before the pandemic.

The way they communicate, interact, and connect feels… different.

I want to know if you’re feeling this too?

🧵
@monaktrix Large cohort studies, cognitive testing, and neuroimaging show measurable deficits post-covid.

Population level patterns reveal widespread frontal lobe impacts, even if not every individual is formally tested.
@monaktrix The result? Subtle reductions in insight, moral reasoning, and empathy.

Severity & frequency of infection matter, but individual outcomes vary.
@Jo10030676 @artfulhome1 I did elaborate after that tweet you’ve replied to…
@suzy_dalli You truly believe that repeated neurological insult to the frontal executive region would remain asymptomatic forever?
@JulianRLewis To ignore COVID’s neurological impact is like trying to explain rising dementia rates purely as a cultural trend.

Biology and society are intertwined.

Pretending otherwise is denial.
@lcracraft If you believe you’re all infected at the same rate as the general population, then your Covid conscious lifestyle choices etc are a complete waste of time.
@FenixFella @faithfulpolaris But SARS-CoV-2 is different.

It directly infects vascular/neuronal tissue, breaches the blood–brain barrier, and leaves measurable grey matter loss.

Stress may exacerbate, but viral neuropathology is unique & documented.
@SarahIrvine_8 You have completely rewritten history. Egregiously so.

What a completely dishonest account of what actually happened.

Utter hyperbole.
@TeresaRatcliffe Oh, and a Christian. It just gets better and better.
@7ee6an @AspLovePolitics I’m not inventing anything new; I’m connecting dots that are already peer-reviewed. The fact that the public hasn’t internalised these findings is precisely why popularising science is necessary.
The comments here are a cesspit of denial, minimisation, antivax tropes, lockdown hyperbole, evidence dismissal & disinformation

Above all, they show an unwillingness to accept that a virus proven to damage the frontal lobe might explain symptoms of frontal lobe damage

No hope
For the fallacies being spouted about lockdowns, children & their recent developmental/behavioural issues, please read this thread.

It saves me having to address every nonsense reply.

My god, if ever there was proof of cognitive decline in 2025, the comments here provide it.
Actually, this entire thread is unequivocally wrong.

Proof of SARS-CoV-2 damaging the frontal lobe would not lead to presentations of frontal lobe dysfunction.

It’s far more likely to be attributed to smart phones (invented 2007)/social media (2006)/a few months of lockdown

/s
@influenya Also, the surge in aggression, poor impulse control & antisocial behaviour wasn’t apparent immediately post-lockdown in 2021, nor throughout 2022.

These trends have emerged more recently, consistent with the timeline of repeated SARS-CoV-2 infections rather than brief isolation.
@Ester__Island @AspLovePolitics My job isn’t to spoon feed intellectually challenged individuals on Twitter, by the way.
@henrybenedict_X One is reversible performance fluctuation, the other is measurable neurological insult.

Huge difference.
Important clarification: aggression, poor impulse control & antisocial behaviour trending today did not appear immediately post-lockdowns in 2021–22

These changes emerged more recently, consistent w/cumulative neurological impact from repeat infections, not short-term isolation.
@Mallory71148207 Probably appropriate to mention this whilst we’re at it…
@Elizabe49818821 @putxiwhipped4 @influenya Stress alone can’t explain measurable olfactory bulb atrophy, hippocampal shrinkage, or reduced frontal lobe activity.

Those show up consistently in peer-reviewed COVID neuroimaging and autopsy.
@Elizabe49818821 @characternugget Both show frontal-executive damage after COVID.

But of course, I know you’ll pretend you know better than the world’s top journals.

That’s just two major journals. The evidence is there, your ignorance of it doesn’t make it disappear.
@craigthomler @Artfulgiant256 Social bond decay ≠ neuronal injury.

Let’s not conflate feelings with proven neuropathology.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with James Throt MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPath

James Throt MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPath Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @JamesThrot

Mar 18
Because COVID has caused so many health problems for so many people, they’re inundated with patients demanding help for their new ailments.

And because nobody, including doctors, wants to acknowledge COVID, it’s more convenient to label the myriad of health problems as “anxiety”
“My new issue that just so happened to appear post-2020 is nothing to do with COVID”

Maybe not.

But repeated infections w/a virus that is vasculotropic, neurotropic, cardiotropic, thromboembolic, oncogenic & damages the immune system certainly won’t be beneficial to your health
I increasingly suspect a feedback loop is emerging in medicine.

People develop health problems after SARS-CoV-2 infection, but neither the patient nor the doctor wants to raise COVID as a possible factor.

So it quietly disappears from the diagnostic conversation.
Read 11 tweets
Mar 15
Two students at the University of Kent in the UK have died following an outbreak of "invasive" meningitis.

A further 11 students are currently in hospital and reported to be seriously ill.

All normal on plague island during a never-ending SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Image
Image
It’s worth knowing that COVID has been associated with T-cell exhaustion, lymphopenia, impaired interferon responses & persistent immune dysregulation.

When host immune regulation is altered, susceptibility/vulnerability to other infections, like meningitis, can increase.
Pathogens responsible for meningitis, like Neisseria meningitidis & Streptococcus pneumoniae, often take hold when immune defenses are impaired.

If SARS-CoV-2 can dysregulate immune function, the downstream effects on vulnerability to infections need acknowledging.
Read 7 tweets
Mar 8
Spreading a brain damaging virus on repeat for >6 years won’t be helping

And since nobody has an appetite for avoiding brain damage, there’s no end in sight

Pretending your 8th COVID infection is just another cold won’t protect you either

Actions & inactions have consequences
Frontal lobes refine behaviour. COVID damages them.

They regulate impulse control, empathy, moral reasoning & judgment.

Damaged lobes mean someone can remain articulate & knowledgeable while becoming reckless, cruel, suggestible & catastrophically bad at evaluating consequences
Executive function is also degraded.

Intelligence without executive function is dangerous. You can be sharp, knowledgeable, eloquent… and still impulsively destroy lives, misjudge catastrophes, or follow urges with zero moral compass.

The brain’s brakes & filters are gone.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 7
MAGA has gone full throttle at attempting to smear me and claim I am unequivocally incorrect in my suggestion Trump may have FTD

Exhibit A below ⬇️

These are not the words of a world leader with fully functioning frontal lobes

His internal filter is progressively diminishing Image
MAGA has been hanging off every word of a dementia patient. No matter how ridiculous or how unhinged it became. They followed. They regurgitated. They worshipped.

The baseline for what constitutes normal behaviour has continually shifted into increasingly preposterous territory.
Imagine having to reckon with the fact you were hoodwinked, beguiled & cajoled by a cognitively compromised senior citizen w/progressive brain atrophy. This won’t sit well.

Under normal circumstances this individual would be in a memory care facility.

But instead, they’re POTUS
Read 5 tweets
Mar 5
As a neurologist, I’ve dealt with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) patients for years

I often pondered how diabolical it would be if a world leader suffered the same fate

Now I’m seeing it play out in real time

Without impeachment, this will get darker than you could ever imagine
Frontotemporal dementia attacks the frontal lobes. The brain’s command center for judgment, empathy, impulse control, moral reasoning and long-term planning.

Imagine a world leader whose frontal lobes progressively fail, but no one intervenes.

Or worse, they cheer it on.
As FTD progresses, disinhibition dominates.

The leader may issue impulsive orders, make erratic public statements or flout norms & laws.

Even in those who were previously unmalicious, there would be a genuine neurological inability to foresee consequences.
Read 17 tweets
Mar 3
When you realise that frontal lobe dysfunction lowers resistance to manipulation & propaganda

And that aging leads to frontal decline, affecting how seniors vote

You’ll understand why the uncontrolled spread of a virus, well documented to damage the frontal lobes, is encouraged
Why?

Reduced prefrontal cortical function, whether from injury, aging or temp impairment, is associated with decreased critical evaluation, increased impulsivity & greater reliance on emotionally salient narratives, which can increase vulnerability to manipulation & propaganda.
A society’s resistance to propaganda depends on the cognitive health of its population.

If executive function declines at scale, you end up with worse decisions on an individual basis, and weaker collective judgment.

And SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that corrodes executive function.
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(