Brain scans reveal dopamine damage may explain long COVID fatigue and brain fog

Five years into the long COVID era, science has finally peered inside the fog and found something measurable: damaged dopamine neurons. Researchers at a Canadian brain imaging center have used PET scans to show that the virus may erode the very circuitry governing motivation, memory, and movement — offering, for the first time, a biological map of suffering that millions have struggled to put into words. The discovery not only validates what patients have long known in their bodies, but opens a door toward treatments that target the brain's dopamine system rather than inflammation alone.