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Study finds the SARS-CoV-2 virus can infect the inner ear
https://medicalxpress.com ^ | October 29, 2021 | by Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Posted on 10/29/2021 7:43:59 AM PDT by Red Badger

Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles, isolated from a patient. Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID

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Many COVID-19 patients have reported symptoms affecting the ears, including hearing loss and tinnitus. Dizziness and balance problems can also occur, suggesting that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may be able to infect the inner ear.

A new study from MIT and Massachusetts Eye and Ear provides evidence that the virus can indeed infect cells of the inner ear, including hair cells, which are critical for both hearing and balance. The researchers also found that the pattern of infection seen in human inner ear tissue is consistent with the symptoms seen in a study of 10 COVID-19 patients who reported a variety of ear-related symptoms.

The researchers used novel cellular models of the human inner ear that they developed, as well as hard-to-obtain adult human inner ear tissue, for their studies. The limited availability of such tissue has hindered previous studies of COVID-19 and other viruses that can cause hearing loss.

"Having the models is the first step, and this work opens a path now for working with not only SARS-CoV-2 but also other viruses that affect hearing," says Lee Gehrke, the Hermann L.F. von Helmholtz Professor in MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, who co-led the study.

Konstantina Stankovic, a former associate professor at Harvard Medical School and former chief of otology and neurotology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, who is now the Bertarelli Foundation Professor and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, co-led the study. Minjin Jeong, a former postdoc in Stankovic's laboratory at Harvard Medical School, who is now at Stanford Medical School, is the lead author of the paper, which appears today in Communications Medicine.

Models of ear infection

Before the COVID-19 pandemic began, Gehrke and Stankovic began working together on a project to develop cellular models to study infections of the human inner ear. Viruses such as cytomegalovirus, mumps virus, and hepatitis viruses can all cause deafness, but exactly how they do so is not well-understood.

In early 2020, after the SARS-CoV-2 virus emerged, the researchers altered their plans. At Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Stankovic started to see patients who were experiencing hearing loss, tinnitus, and dizziness, who had tested positive for COVID-19. "It was very unclear at the time whether this was causally related or coincidental, because hearing loss and tinnitus are so common," she recalls.

She and Gehrke decided to use the model system they were working on to study infection of SARS-CoV-2. They created their cellular models by taking human skin cells and transforming them into induced pluripotent stem cells. Then, they were able to stimulate those cells to differentiate into several types of cells found in the inner ear: hair cells, supporting cells, nerve fibers, and Schwann cells, which insulate neurons.

These cells could be grown in a flat, two-dimensional layer or organized into three-dimensional organoids. In addition, the researchers were able to obtain samples of hard-to-obtain inner ear tissue from patients who were undergoing surgery for a disorder that causes severe attacks of vertigo or for a tumor that causes hearing loss and dizziness.

In both the human inner ear samples and the stem-cell-derived cellular models, the researchers found that certain types of cells—hair cells and Schwann cells—express the proteins that are needed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter the cells. These proteins include the ACE2 receptor, which is found on cell surfaces, and two enzymes called furin and transmembrane protease serine 2, which help the virus to fuse with the host cell.

The researchers then showed that the virus can actually infect the inner ear, specifically the hair cells and, to a lesser degree, Schwann cells. They found that the other cell types in their models were not susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The human hair cells that the researchers studied were vestibular hair cells, which are involved in sensing head motion and maintaining balance. Cochlear hair cells, which are involved in hearing, are much harder to obtain or generate in a cellular model. However, the researchers showed that cochlear hair cells from mice also have proteins that allow SARS-CoV-2 entry.

Viral connection

The pattern of infection that the researchers found in their tissue samples appears to correspond to the symptoms observed in a group of 10 COVID-19 patients who reported ear-related symptoms following their infection. Nine of these patients suffered from tinnitus, six experienced vertigo, and all experienced mild to profound hearing loss.

Damage to cochlear hair cells, which can cause hearing loss, is usually evaluated by measuring otoacoustic emissions—sounds given off by sensory hair cells as they respond to auditory stimulation. Among the six COVID-19 patients in the study who underwent this testing, all had reduced or absent otoacoustic emissions.

While this study strongly suggests that COVID-19 can cause auditory and balance problems, the overall percentage of COVID-19 patients who have experienced ear-related issues is not known.

"Initially this was because routine testing was not readily available for patients who were diagnosed with COVID, and also, when patients were having more life-threatening complications, they weren't paying much attention to whether their hearing was reduced or whether they had tinnitus," Stankovic says. "We still don't know what the incidence is, but our findings really call for increased attention to audiovestibular symptoms in people with COVID exposure."

Possible routes for the virus to enter the ears include the Eustachian tube, which connects the nose to the middle ear. The virus may also be able to escape from the nose through small openings surrounding the olfactory nerves, Stankovic says. That would allow it to enter the brain space and infect cranial nerves, including the one that connects to the inner ear.

The researchers now hope to use their human cellular models to test possible treatments for the inner ear infections caused by SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses.

Explore further

Evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 virus attacks brain endothelial cells

More information: Direct SARS-CoV-2 infection of the human inner ear may underlie COVID-19-associated audiovestibular dysfunction, Communications Medicine, DOI: 10.1038/s43856-021-00044-w

Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Health/Medicine; Science; Society
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Now we'll have to wear EAR PLUGS!........................
1 posted on 10/29/2021 7:43:59 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

When do the people that cooked this up then loosed it upon the world get hanged?


2 posted on 10/29/2021 7:48:14 AM PDT by Antihero101607
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To: Red Badger

I had covid in January and was fine on two days.

I was coerced into getting the J and J vaccine in August.

Since that day, I’ve been dizzy. My neurologist is running every test known to man. He seems determined to link my symptoms to the vaccine.

I wonder if the spike protein from the J and J acts similarly (or worse) than the viral store protein and is the cause of my symptoms?


3 posted on 10/29/2021 7:57:41 AM PDT by Nathan _in_Arkansas (Hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats. )
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To: Nathan _in_Arkansas

That has been postulated that people who have had the Covid and therefore have antibodies and then get the vax are more likely to have an adverse reaction due to the immune system overreacting to the mRNA produced spike proteins...............


4 posted on 10/29/2021 8:03:47 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Nathan _in_Arkansas
Since that day, I’ve been dizzy. My neurologist is running every test known to man. He seems determined to link my symptoms to the vaccine.

You have a good and honorable neurologist.

Worth his weight in gold!

Hang on to him.
5 posted on 10/29/2021 8:04:12 AM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: Red Badger

They are cooking up covid effects to cover for the damages from the poison vaxes.

These monsters are so transparent.


6 posted on 10/29/2021 8:17:18 AM PDT by dforest (Freaking insane world. )
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To: Red Badger

“”Image captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Credit: NIAID

From Fauxcy’s US bio-weapons lab.


7 posted on 10/29/2021 8:17:50 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Critical Marx Theory is The SOLUTION....)
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To: SoConPubbie; Nathan _in_Arkansas

We are looking for one in MA...if anyone has any recommendations. My husband is suffering same thing and I wonder if it was the JJ jab.


8 posted on 10/29/2021 8:20:26 AM PDT by small farm girl (....)
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To: Red Badger

eh?


9 posted on 10/29/2021 8:26:09 AM PDT by null and void (LGBTQ = Let's Get Biden To Quit, FORK-N-A = First Uttery Cancel Kamala-Nancy-Axed)
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To: Red Badger

I got the chinese virus on 10/1 and ever since I’ll get temporary hearing loss in one ear or the other, especially if I’ve been exerting myself more than normal.


10 posted on 10/29/2021 8:27:04 AM PDT by gop4lyf (Gay marriage is neither. Democrats are the party of sore losers and pedophiles.)
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To: Red Badger

That’s a pretty effective bioweapon virus, isn’t it? On top of scaring the populace into accepting tyranny, it’ll actually kill some people, and cause others to lose their hearing and taste. What will the Chinese Communist Party think of next?


11 posted on 10/29/2021 8:30:38 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (But what do I know? I'm just a backwoods engineer.)
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To: Nathan _in_Arkansas
Sorry that you were coerced into getting the shot.

Sister-in-law got the J&J in late May. By middle June she had a heart attack. Recovered, but a few day later there was heart inflammation. Recovered. There came the blood clot and stroke.

Spent 40 days in hospital recovering. The spent 3 weeks in a rehab facility where she died.

She was a dialysis patient, plus had multiple other medical problems which is not unusual for dialysis patients.

She was rocking along until the shot. Old people should not get the shot. In fact, no-one should. Its a killer or at the very least a shot that permanently maims people.

12 posted on 10/29/2021 8:33:54 AM PDT by Parmy
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To: gop4lyf

My husband and I are pretty sure we have Covid in the fall of 2019. A solid month of coughing up crud. But towards the end we had a curious thing happen: our right ear would close off during the course of the day. Couldn’t hear a thing from that side. Then it went away.

Didn’t think another thing of it until the world went bat guano crazy.


13 posted on 10/29/2021 9:21:47 AM PDT by karatemom
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To: Nathan _in_Arkansas

You probably have Long Haul Covid-19 Syndrome (LHCS).

Look up FLCCC Alliance for their protocol on therapy.


14 posted on 10/29/2021 9:29:22 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: Nathan _in_Arkansas

That would be FLCCC


15 posted on 10/29/2021 9:32:44 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: small farm girl

On line, pushhealth.com. Tell them you want therapy for Long Haul Covid-19 Syndrome From FLCCC.


16 posted on 10/29/2021 9:37:29 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: Cold Heart

I don’t believe it’s long-haul, as I made a full recovery. After recovering in January (I recovered in two days), I was back in the gym and hitting personal records with the weights. Also, cardio was improving like I wasin my 20s again.

Then, the “vaccine.” I struggle in the gym now. I’m chronically fatigued. I have balance issues. I have mild pressure in the back of my head. Nothing showed up on the MRI/MRA/MRV or ultrasounds.

I refuse to let this be my ending, though.


17 posted on 10/29/2021 9:54:35 AM PDT by Nathan _in_Arkansas (Hoist the black flag and begin slitting throats. )
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To: Nathan _in_Arkansas

Long Haul Covid-19 Syndrome, from what I gather, is mostly caused by the clot shot.


18 posted on 10/29/2021 10:04:28 AM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: Red Badger

My wife started getting vertigo a couple months after being fully jabbed. Completely debilitating at first. Recently she has been better but she can still feel it sometimes.


19 posted on 10/29/2021 10:12:09 AM PDT by 13foxtrot
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To: Antihero101607

So, when the infection decides to spread, the first thing it bumps into is the brain. Between these infections and prions causing mad cow/human disease... smh.


20 posted on 10/29/2021 11:40:18 AM PDT by bgill (Which came first, the vax or the virus?)
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