Fact Check: Was a Woman's Brain Pierced After a COVID-19 Swab Test Gone Wrong?

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of people underwent swab tests to know if they have the virus or not.

Everyone who underwent the procedure stated that it feels like their brain is being "pierced by an oversized cotton bud."

The statement made by those who had undergone a swab test terrified some people, and now a recent lurid headline may scare people into going in for a swab test.

Did a woman's nose leak brain fluid?

The headline from the Daily Star "Woman's nose 'starts leaking brain and spinal fluid' after she took a Covid swab test" immediately went viral. The headline from Mirror goes "Coronavirus swab test went so far up a woman's nose it caused her brain to leak" and it also caught the attention of netizens.

But where did this story come from and do people have every reason to be afraid? The newspaper reports are based on a case study that was published in a respected medical journal, JAMA Otolaryngol Head & Neck Surgery.

Also Read: Half a Million Girls are At Risk of Child Marriage Because of COVID-19

The study tells of a woman in Iowa, USA, who was asked to self-swab for COVID-19 before undergoing a hernia operation. Shortly after swabbing, fluid began leaking from her nose. She also suffered from headache and started vomiting after.

The doctors at the University of Iowa hospital, where she was treated, identified the fluid as cerebrospinal fluid, which is a fluid that is found in the protective lining around the brain and spine.

Is there a cause for alarm?

There is no reason to be alarmed. The 40-year-old woman from Iowa already had a pre-existing defect in the base of her skull, which is the bone at the top of the nose, and a sac of brain tissue had protruded out into the nasal cavity. This is a very rare condition that is seen in neurosurgery and in ear, nose and throat clinics.

About 1 in 10,000 babies are born with a defect like this, but the rate at which it occurs in adults is unknown. In the case of the 40-year-old woman, it was probably because the pressure inside her skull around the brain was higher than normal, creating a weak spot.

It is very unlikely for any person who does not have this pre-existing weakness in the nose to cause any damage with a swab.

However, a good top when swabbing the nose is to remember that the inside of the nose travels back, towards the back of the head, and not up.

So any swabbing of the nose should involve pointing the swab towards the back of the head in the same direction as you would point the swab towards your tonsil when you swab your mouth, which is part of the same test.

Medical experts encourage people to have a swab test to make sure that they are COVID-free. It may be uncomfortable but it will not jab your brain, unlike what the news claims.

Swab test is the only way to know who has the virus and it is an important public health tool to help bring the pandemic under control.