Abstract
COVID-19 is a novel virus which causes a variety of clinical
manifestations in the body some of which are still yet to be discovered.
The main aim of our study is to highlight the neurological
manifestations of COVID-19 as it is still new to the medical world and
to emphasize the fact that the physicians have to be vary of the
possibility that patients affected with COVID-19 can present with
encephalitis during this modern world pandemic. Only a few case reports
have been reported so far regarding the neurological manifestations of
this novel virus which highlights the need of this study. We present a
case series of 5 patients who were found to have COVID-19 encephalitis.
There is still no disease defining test for diagnosis so the mainstay of
diagnosis is exclusion of the all common causes of encephalitis. Brain
MRI and CSF analysis performs an ancillary in the diagnostic tools. Our
study also supports the use of IV Tocilizumab (4-8 mg/kg) and IV
methylprednisolone (0.5-2 mg/kg) as treatment options having good
results as the patients described in our case series responded well to
this therapeutic combination. Our study also highlights the fact that
the disease can have a good outcome with no long term neurological
complications.
Keywords: COVID-19, Encephalitis, Neurological
manifestation, Tocilizimab, Methylprednisolone, Polymerase Chain
Reaction
Key Clinical Message: Brain MRI and CSF analysis perform an
ancillary in the diagnostic tools. Our study also supports the use of IV
Tocilizumab (4-8 mg/kg) and IV methylprednisolone (0.5-2 mg/kg) as
treatment options having good results with favorable outcomes.