A first case of meningitis/encephalitis associated with SARS-Coronavirus-2

2020 International Journal of Infectious Diseases 2,051 citations

Abstract

Novel coronavirus (SARS-Coronavirus-2:SARS-CoV-2) which emerged in Wuhan, China, has spread to multiple countries rapidly. We report the first case of meningitis associated with SARS-CoV-2 who was brought in by ambulance due to a convulsion accompanied by unconsciousness. He had never been to any foreign countries. He felt generalized fatigue and fever (day 1). He saw doctors nearby twice (day 2 and 5) and was prescribed Laninamivir and antipyretic agents, His family visited his home and found that he was unconsciousness and lying on the floor in his vomit. He was immediately transported to this hospital by ambulance (day 9). Under emergency transport, he had transient generalized seizures that lasted about a minute. He had obvious neck stiffness. The specific SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not detected in the nasopharyngeal swab but was detected in a CSF. Anti- HSV 1 and varicella-zoster IgM antibodies were not detected in serum samples. A brain MRI showed hyperintensity along the wall of right lateral ventricle and hyperintense signal changes in the right mesial temporal lobe and hippocampus, suggesting the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 meningitis. This case warns the physicians of patients who have CNS symptoms.

Keywords

UnconsciousnessMedicineMeningitisEncephalitisPediatricsViral meningitisPneumoniaViral pneumoniaCoronavirusAnesthesiaVirologyCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)VirusInternal medicineBacterial meningitis

MeSH Terms

BetacoronavirusCOVID-19ChinaCoronavirus InfectionsEncephalitisFatigueFeverHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMeningitisViralPandemicsPneumoniaViralSARS-CoV-2Young Adult

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Publication Info

Year
2020
Type
article
Volume
94
Pages
55-58
Citations
2051
Access
Closed

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Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

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2051
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128
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1583
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Cite This

Takeshi Moriguchi, Norikazu Harii, Junko Goto et al. (2020). A first case of meningitis/encephalitis associated with SARS-Coronavirus-2. International Journal of Infectious Diseases , 94 , 55-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2020.03.062

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.ijid.2020.03.062
PMID
32251791
PMCID
PMC7195378

Data Quality

Data completeness: 86%