NOT-DA-21-018
NIH
Letter of Intent Deadline: May 07 2021
Application Deadline: Sep 08 2024 at 5:00pm
Syndemic (synergistic epidemic) is the aggregation of two or more, concurrent or sequential epidemics or disease clusters, interacting synergistically in a population, contributing to excess burden of disease and prognosis. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-coronavirus (CoV)-2 is responsible for a new coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 affects a wide variety of organs, among them the central nervous system (CNS). In parallel, HIV-1 is known to have significant neurotropic properties which can lead to HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), classified according to its severity in asymptomatic, mild, or severe (HIV-dementia).
Individuals with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs), especially those who inject drugs (PWID), are at high risk of developing HIV, with notorious morbidity and mortality rates. HIV and SUDs are well-known factors for neurocognitive impairment. The first wave of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic impacted urban areas where both the HIV and SUDs epidemics are prominent. In this vein, COVID-19 CNS alterations in survivors have been reported in about 30% of patients who required hospitalization. Symptoms include anosmia, loss of taste, loss of hearing, headaches, mental “fogginess”, confusion, fatigue, dizziness, and in severe cases encephalopathy. Long-term neurocognitive aspects of COVID-19 are likely but still not fully understood. Thus, it is of major public health relevance to study the long-term neurocognitive consequences of the COVID-19, HIV and SUD’s syndemic, given the combined viral neurotropism of SARS-CoV-2, HIV-1, and the deleterious effects of SUDs in the brain.
