What COVID-19 Does to the Body (9th Edition, September 2025)

Your Regular COVID-19 Research Update (80+ Studies)

For years, concerned voices warned that the minimizing of COVID-19 would inevitably lead to the minimization of all infectious diseases. With the total burial of COVID-19 by the Second Trump Administration that has devolved into a war against not just the COVID-19 vaccine, but the lifesaving pediatric vaccine schedule in its entirety, this concern has been validated. While COVID-19 doesn’t play nice with its human hosts, it certainly plays well with other contagions. From the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were misled into believing that the SARS-CoV-2 virus wasn’t killing people, but instead other causes. In truth, the vascular multi-system disease can certainly contribute to bad outcomes, including death.

As unmitigated outbreaks from public health mismanagement begins to sink the nation in a soup of pestilence, many Americans will be learning the hard way that half-a-dozen or so COVID-19 infections didn’t “train” their immune system “like a muscle” to fight off other diseases. While it’s impossible to predict just what comes next, the minimizers who painted rosy pictures touting the harmlessness of a SARS virus were clearly the furthest from the truth yet now infest the halls of power. Informing the public about the harmful impacts of COVID-19 has now become an act of civil resistance against the federal government.

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Here is what we have learned about COVID-19’s impacts as well as treatment & prevention since the 8th edition in June. On a small note: For this edition, we have split up Long COVID related studies to organ-specific sections to avoid bloat. Also, annual subscriptions are 25% off until October 9th!

Previous edition can be found here:

What COVID-19 Does to the Body (Eighth Edition, June 2025)

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Children & COVID-19

• “Persistent symptoms of [pediatric] long COVID were reported in 85.8% of patients at 3 months…most common long-term symptoms included fatigue (52.0%), reduced physical activity (44.1%), and headache (35.3%).” (Sec. Pediatric Infectious Diseases)

• “Children recovering from COVID-19 may exhibit structural brain changes and network connectivity disruptions” (Brain and Behavior)

• “Children and adolescents who experienced a severe COVID-19 infection experienced 59% higher rates of depression and anxiety.” (PLoS One)

• “Cranial MRI revealed symmetric brain lesions in all cases” (BMC Pediatrics)

• “Children living with long COVID managed in the community pose a non-neglectable burden on French health insurance” (Journal of Medical Economics)

• Antibody repertoire associated with clinically diverse presentations of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection (medRxiv)

• “Over 80% of children with [Long COVID] reported impaired [quality of life]” (Communications Medicine)

Cognitive & Neurological Impairment (Brain)

• An Amyloidogenic Fragment of the Spike Protein from SARS-CoV-2 Virus Stimulates the Aggregation and Toxicity of Parkinson’s Disease Protein Alpha-Synuclein (ACS Chemical Neuroscience)

• “…healthcare systems should be…prepared for a potential increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases” (Journal of Neurology)

• Insights into Neuroinflammatory Sequelae and “Broken Bridge Syndrome” (medRxiv)

• “Long COVID is a major health concern because many patients develop chronic neuropsychiatric symptoms…MMP-9 can disrupt neuronal connectivity and be elevated in patients with long COVID.” (Translational Neuroscience)

• “COVID –19 positive individuals with stroke had a longer LOS, lower mobility…and were less likely to discharge to home.” (Physical Medicine & Rehabilition)

• “Infection with SARS-CoV-2 during the first year of the pandemic was associated with three to five times higher odds of cognitive impairment 2 years after infection.” (Nature Scientific Reports)

• Exposure to COVID-19 virus-like particles modulates firing patterns of cortical neurons in the mouse brain (Communications Biology)

• Functional brain abnormalities in post COVID-19 condition and their relationship with cognition (Nature Scientific Reports)

• Vaccination prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection does not affect the neurologic manifestations of long COVID (Brain Communications)

• Hamsters with long COVID present distinct transcriptomic profiles associated with neurodegenerative processes in brainstem (Nature Communications)

• Persistent olfactory dysfunction as an indicator of cognitive impairment in long COVID-19 syndrome (European Archives of Psychiatry & Clinical Neuroscience)

• Neuropsychiatric symptoms cluster as primary drivers of Long COVID complexity (Sec. Neurorehabilitation)

• Long COVID “was associated with reduced cognitive processing speed compared to fully recovered controls with those infected early in the pandemic having greater deficits.” (Infectious Diseases)

Ears, Ears & Nose

• A Peripheral Neuron-to-Microglia Signaling Axis Connecting Transient Viral Infection to Persistent Neuroinflammatory States (Biological Sciences)

• SARS-CoV-2 induces Alzheimer’s disease–related amyloid-β pathology in ex vivo human retinal explants and retinal organoids (Science Advances)

• “Among 3010 eligible participants aged 14 to 40 years, 373 (12.39%) reported new-onset [Olfactory dysfunction] following COVID-19 infection.” (Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology)

Heart, Lungs, and Cardiovascular Health

• Cardiovascular disease prevention and management in COVID-19 (European Journal of Preventive Cardiology)

• SARS-CoV-2 infection induces pro-fibrotic and pro-thrombotic foam cell formation (Nature Microbiology)

• “COVID-19 is associated with early vascular ageing in the long term, especially in women.” (European Heart Journal)

• Respiratory viral infections awaken metastatic breast cancer cells in lungs (Nature)

• SARS-CoV-2 damages cardiomyocyte mitochondria and implicates long COVID-associated cardiovascular manifestations (Journal of Advanced Research)

• Covid and Our Arteries (Eric Topol)

• “…SARS-CoV-2 can directly activate blood coagulation” (Communications Biology)

• Single-cell multi-omics show disruption of blood and airway T-cells in pulmonary long COVID (medRxiv)

Immune System & Cancer

• “[Shingles] following COVID-19 may serve as a clinical indicator of immune vulnerability and heightened susceptibility to hematologic and infectious disorders.” (Sec. Hematology)

• A multimodal atlas of COVID-19 severity identifies hallmarks of dysregulated immunity (medRxiv)

• “…SARS-CoV-2 possesses oncogenic potential, impacting multiple hallmarks of cancer through its proteins and interactions with cellular pathways.” (Cell Communication and Signaling)

• Why scientists are rethinking the immune effects of SARS-CoV-2 (BMJ)

• Persistent Immune Dysregulation during Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 is Manifested in Antibodies Targeting Envelope and Nucleocapsid Proteins (bioRxiv)

• SARS-CoV-2 infection induces ZBP1-dependent PANoptosis in bystander cells (Immunology and Inflammation)

• Immunological and non-immunological features specific to Long-COVID: multiple overlapping aetiologies and potential biomarkers (medRxiv)

Livers, Kidney, and the Gut

• “…late kidney dysfunction affected 1 in 4 COVID-19 survivors [of COVID-19 Hospitalization.]” (Kidney International Reports)

• Viral Insult to Endocrine Glands: A Multi-Mechanistic Analysis of Pancreatic and Thyroid Damage and its Long-Term Sequelae (David Lingenfelter, PHD)

• SARS-CoV-2 infection drives local inflammation of the intestinal epithelium in immunocompromised patients with cancer (iScience)

• Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 bacteriophage potential in human gut microbiota (Emerging Diseases and Outbreaks)

• Trends in Prevalence of Rome IV Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Neurogastroenterology & Motility)

• Oral and Gut Microbiota Relate to Symptom Subphenotypes in Long COVID, Independent of Viral Persistence. (iScience)

Long COVID & Disability

• “Nearly 29% of post-acute COVID-19 patients developed long COVID-19” (BMC Infectious Diseases)

• The Rehabilitation and Management of Long COVID: A Handbook for Clinical Practice (Book edited by Danielle Hitch & Joanne Wrench

• “The global pooled long COVID prevalence was 36% with 144 contributing studies.” (Open Forum Infectious Diseases)

• “ME/CFS is a diagnosable sequela that develops at an increased rate following SARS-CoV-2 infection.” (Journal of General Internal Medicine)

• “Disability-related data may serve as an early warning indicator for longCOVID. Without intervention, this may translate into years of consequences that go largely untracked.”" (Med Research)

• “By 2023, 1 in 7 adults in New York City had experienced long-term health effects of COVID-19, half of whom reported current activity limitations.” (medRxiv)

• Challenges of Inclusion: A Population-Based Interview Study of Long Covid (Health Expectations)

• Long COVID, Long Consequences: Financial, Employment and Social Security Impacts in Scotland (The Poverty Alliance)

• “Long COVID is associated with significantly reduced function and quality of life” Australian Journal of Primary Health)

• “…struggles of people with Long COVID to obtain diagnoses and treatment in the face of medical dismissal and ignorance.” (British Sociological Association)

• Africa: Long Covid is Like ‘Experiencing Malaria Constantly’ - How Sufferers Struggle to Access Basic Care (allAfrica)

• Persistence of fatigue in the absence of pathophysiological mechanisms in some patients more than 2 years after the original SARS-CoV-2 infection (Experimental Physiology)

• Oxidative stress is a shared characteristic of ME/CFS and Long COVID (Immunology and Inflammation)

• Skeletal muscle adaptations and post-exertional malaise in long COVID (Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism)

Overall Mortality

• “…a slight improvement in Social Security’s financial health due to excess deaths, driven primarily by the premature death of people who would have received retirement benefits.” (National Bureau of Economic Research)

• “All participants who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 had a marked increase in healthcare utilization during the subsequent 180 days.” (PLOS One)

• Silent Invasion: COVID-19′s Hidden Damage to Human Organs (COVID)

• COVID-19 infection and severity among childhood cancer survivors in Denmark and Sweden (The Lancet Regional Health Europe)

• America Still Seeing Many Hospitalizations, Deaths from SARS-CoV-2 (Infectious Disease Special Edition)

Pregnancy

• “COVID-19 during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of maternal disease severity and death characterized by a dysregulated inflammatory response” (EMBO Journal)

• “Female infants exposed in utero showed significantly reduced performance in orientation and state regulation measures” (European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry”

• SARS-CoV-2 Viral Pseudoparticles Preferentially Infect Ectoderm In Human Embryonic Tissues (bioRxiv)

• Pregnancy Loss Associated with COVID-19 Infection: Associations with Detection of Viral RNA in Placental and Fetal Tissue (Pediatric and Developmental Pathology)

Reinfections of COVID-19

• “COVID-19 reinfection resulted in a roughly 35% increase in the incidence of long COVID” (medRxiv)

• Effect of reinfection on the spread of COVID-19 evaluated by a flexible compartment model (Research Square)

Reproductive Health

• “Women have reported menstrual changes following SARS-CoV-2 infection and variation in long COVID symptoms across the menstrual cycle.” (Nature Communications)

• “SARS-CoV-2 infects [interstitial cells of the testes], activates its immune response and impairs steroidogenesis” (Sec. Molecular Viral Pathogenesis)

Viral Persistence

• “…SARS-CoV-2 may have a long-term impact on a variety of different cell types, either due to direct or indirect effects of viral infection and potential viral persistence.” (Mitochondrion)

COVID-19 Prevention & Transmission

• “NPIs were effective in substantially reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission, averting 860,000 (95% CI: 560,000–1,190,000) COVID-19 deaths in the US in 2020.” (BMC Global and Public Health)

• Intranasal vaccine combining adenovirus and trimeric subunit protein provides superior immunity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant (Nature Biomedical Engineering)

• Intranasal booster induces durable mucosal immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in mice (Nature Scientific Reports)

• “…maintaining the recommendation for all individuals to receive reformulated vaccines has the potential to save thousands more lives through both direct and indirect effects.” (JAMA Network Open)

• Induction of lung mucosal immunity by a next-generation inhaled aerosol COVID-19 vaccine (Nature Communications)

• Upper respiratory tract immunization with Pam₂Cys-adjuvanted spike protein vaccine achieves sterilizing protection against SARS-CoV-2 (Sec. Vaccines and Molecular Therapeutics)

• Improving Air Quality in Schools - a longitudinal study (Airspot Health)

• “If HCWs wear N95 respirators and surgical masks throughout, the total infection risk can be reduced by 94.7 % and 53.9 % respectively” (Infectious Disease Modeling)

• SARS-CoV-2 detection via high-sensitivity RT-PCR in 15 minutes using microfluidic COP chips (Biomedical Materials & Devices)

• Climatic Influence on COVID-19: Investigating the Role of Temperature and Humidity in the Spread of the Omicron Variant (bioRxiv)

• Hybrid Silver–Silica and Organic Biocide Systems in PVC: Enhanced Antiviral Performance against SARS-CoV-2 (Applied Materials & Interfaces)

• “Improved ventilation was independently associated with lower odds of SARS-CoV-2 infection among exposed roommates.” (Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology)

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While America’s federal public health agencies waste the public’s time with absurd quackery around autism and Tylenol, as well as replacing hard scientific evidence with random anecdotes to “prove” that vaccines kill children, it’s important to remember that there are qualified, morally upstanding scientists and doctors doing important work to solve this ongoing global crisis. It’s still worthwhile to protect yourself and your loved ones from COVID-19.

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