Alert: Nasal Swab Could Damage The Brain

A woman getting her brain punctured during a nasal swab test for COVID 19 sends alert worldwide. The brain fluid leaking through her nose has made the health workers exercise caution and follow testing protocols.

The fact came to light after a study published on October 1 in the JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery journal. Apart from killing more than 1 million people, COVID 19 is creating all sorts of havoc worldwide. 

Brain fluid leaking from US Woman nose

A forty-year-old woman patient, after having a nasal swab test, started to have clear fluid running down from her nose. When doctors checked her, it was found that her brain was punctured during the nasal swab test, and the brain fluid was draining from her nose. 

Upon immediate treatment, she was saved from a disaster as the nose's infection could have been carried to the brain. But the woman had a history of intracranial hypertension which is the pressure from cerebrospinal fluid to be high. 

This fluid protects and nourishes the brain, and on the excess will result in developing encephalocele. It is a defect at the skull base to cause the brain's lining to protrude into the nose. And since the paramedics who took the nasal swab test r did not know about it and had inserted deep inside her nose to puncture her brain.  

Senior author opinion on a nasal swab. 

Jarrett Walsh is the senior author of the published paper and is practicing at the University of Iowa Hospital. Walsh said that people suffering from sinus and undergone any skull base surgery should opt for the oral test rather than the nasal swab. 

Upon publishing the paper, many experts are now asking health workers to exercise caution follow protocols and procedures during testing COVID 19.