James Throt MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPath Profile picture
Oct 8 11 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Since I’m a neuropathologist, I’ll put my two cents into this MND discussion.

SARS-CoV-2 isn’t just a respiratory virus. Emerging evidence shows it can infect human motor neurons. Could this link to motor neuron disease (MND)?

Let’s break down the neuropathology. 🧵
Direct infection of motor neurons:

SARS-CoV-2 enters via ACE2, NRP1, CD147 receptors and can replicate inside neurons.

These long, metabolically demanding cells are highly vulnerable to injury.
Neuroinflammation:

Infected neurons trigger microglial activation & astrocyte dysfunction, creating chronic inflammation.

Neuroinflammation is a known driver of MND, especially ALS.
Protein misfolding:

Viral infection causes ER (Endoplasmic Reticulum) stress and oxidative stress, which can promote TDP-43 aggregation, a hallmark of ALS, leading to neuron dysfunction & death.

ER is responsible for folding & processing proteins properly.
Vascular and metabolic stress:

SARS-CoV-2 can cause microthrombi, hypoxia and endothelial dysfunction.

Motor neurons are highly metabolically active, so even mild oxygen or nutrient deficits can accelerate degeneration.
Immune-mediated damage:

Systemic immune activation can lead to autoimmune or bystander neuronal injury.

In genetically susceptible people, this could trigger or worsen MND.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), including repeated concussions from sports like rugby, is a known risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, including motor neuron disease (MND).

Chronic neuronal stress and inflammation can prime cells for degeneration.
Conceptually, prior neuronal injury (e.g. from TBI) could lower the threshold for SARS-CoV-2–induced neuronal damage, increasing MND risk or hastening its onset.

Multiple hits = cumulative vulnerability.
This shows how environmental exposures, lifestyle factors, and viral infections can converge on the same neurodegenerative pathways.

SARS-CoV-2 may not create MND from scratch, but it could push already vulnerable neurons over the edge.
Bottom line:

SARS-CoV-2 delivers multiple hits to motor neurons: infection, inflammation, vascular compromise, protein aggregation.

This creates a plausible pathway for motor neuron degeneration, though causality is not yet proven.
We need long-term studies tracking SARS-CoV-2 survivors, neurodegeneration markers, and MND incidence.

The virus’s neurological reach may be wider than we realise.

END.

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More from @JamesThrot

Oct 7
All the “there’s no evidence SARS-CoV-2 causes brain damage” takes I’ve seen are weak, unscientific, and often just opinion masquerading as fact.

Let’s break this down with actual facts, rather than mere conjecture. 🧵 Marc Veldhoen states: There was no lymphopenia, no superantigen, no immune damage/dysfunction/exhaustion. There are no large outbreaks of infections. Furthermore, there are no increases in cancers due to SARS-CoV-2 infection, no compounded risk of longCovid, etc. Now it is brain damage.
Marc Veldhoen states: Sneaky, nobody can see it, and nobody can be aware..... so they will always be right. They will blame everything and anything on SARS-CoV-2, regardless of its lack of plausibility or the absence of actual evidence. And all the ZeroCovid accounts are at it!
Claim: “No lymphopenia, no immune dysfunction, no long COVID.”

Fact: Multiple peer-reviewed studies show SARS-CoV-2 does cause lymphocyte depletion, immune exhaustion, and long-term neurological effects.

Denial ≠ evidence.
Claim: “No compounded risk of infections/cancers”

Fact: SARS-CoV-2 impairs immune memory in some patients & is linked to increased risk of complications

Chronic inflammation & immune disruption are known risk factors for cancer, it’s scientifically reckless to say “zero risk”
Read 10 tweets
Oct 5
You fixate on coughs/fever/hospitalisation

Meanwhile, billions w/no obvious symptoms are sustaining brain damage

Empathy. Logic. Foresight

Invisible, ignored, unstoppable

You’re all acting like nothing is happening

Covid isn’t just a virus. It’s a quiet collapse of humanity.
While we worry about obvious Covid complications, billions w/out symptoms are suffering hidden brain damage

Impulse control/inhibition/foresight/conscience are quietly eroding

Humanity is losing its mind, one silent infection at a time

Compassion is on the brink of extinction.
Look around. The quiet collapse is happening.

Billions are silently losing the part of their brain that makes them human.

Denial isn’t always due to ignorance.

SARS-CoV-2 can rewire your mind; it robs the brain of the very faculty to perceive the threat you’re facing.

Read⬇️
Read 4 tweets
Oct 3
🧵 Attribution Bias: The Hidden Fuel of COVID Denial

One of the main reasons society refuses to face the ongoing damage of SARS-CoV-2 is attribution bias

It’s not that the harms aren’t there, they’re everywhere

It’s that people are misattributing them to the wrong causes

1/9
Brain fog? Must just be “stress.”

Shortness of breath? Must be “getting older.”

Heart palpitations? Probably “anxiety.”

Cognitive slips? “Too much screen time.”

Anything, literally anything, but admitting that repeat COVID infections are the cause.

2/
Attribution bias makes the invisible visible elsewhere.

Instead of facing the direct, uncomfortable truth (“COVID has injured me”), people redirect it to a more socially acceptable explanation.

This isn’t an accident.

It’s how the human brain protects fragile worldviews.

3/
Read 9 tweets
Sep 18
As a neuropathologist with decades of experience studying dementia, Alzheimer’s & viral brain injury…

I know exactly how brain damage presents itself.

I’m seeing this unfold at a population level each & every day.

SARS-CoV-2 is inflicting neurological harm on a global scale.
For the “Correlation isn’t causation” crowd:

Covid is neurotropic, it directly infects the brain. It causes vascular injury/clotting/neurodegeneration.

We’re not guessing. The mechanism is established. The population-level consequences are what you’re watching unfold right now.
Frontotemporal injury doesn’t stay hidden. It shows as:

- Declining empathy/compassion
- Poor impulse control/reckless behaviour
- Collapsing attention spans & foresight
– Susceptibility to lies, rage & tribalism

Sound familiar?

That’s covid’s neurological footprint at scale.
Read 8 tweets
Sep 18
We don’t live in a free society.

We live in one where obedience is disguised as opportunity.

Where exhaustion is called “hard work.”

Where exploitation is sold as “luck.”

This is modern slavery with a smile.

A thread 🧵
It starts in school. We were told it’s about “education,” but the real lesson is obedience:

- Be on time, every day
- Sit still, don’t question authority
- Complete every assignment, no matter how absurd
- Face punishment if you refuse

i.e. Training for a lifetime of compliance
So when we reach the workplace, we’re already programmed.

We say yes to unpaid overtime.

Yes to being disturbed on holiday.

Yes to covering for colleagues.

We’ve been taught that refusal equals punishment, so our default response is obedience… even to exploitation.
Read 8 tweets
Aug 27
“My baby had Covid and was fine”

Did your baby tell you how their endothelial function, immune system & neurodevelopment are doing compared to baseline?

Did they explain their risk profile for future disease?

Or are you just guessing because they didn’t drop dead on the spot?
SARS-CoV-2 isn’t harmless in babies.

Infections are linked to disrupted brain development, higher risk of neurological disorders (incl. autism spectrum, seizures, developmental delay), immune dysregulation & heart damage.

Babies can’t self report.

Fine today ≠ fine long term.
And guess what?

If you catch COVID while pregnant, the stakes are higher.

Increased risk of preterm birth, low birth weight, stillbirth, NICU stays… and possible long-term neurodevelopmental issues, including autism.

This isn’t speculation by the way, it’s science.
Read 6 tweets

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