Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Apr;26(2):143-148.
doi: 10.1007/s13365-020-00840-5. Epub 2020 May 23.

COVID-19 and the nervous system

Joseph R Berger  1   2
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 and the nervous system

Joseph R Berger. J Neurovirol. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

A pandemic due to novel coronavirus arose in mid-December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and in 3 months' time swept the world. The disease has been referred to as COVID-19, and the causative agent has been labelled SARS-CoV-2 due to its genetic similarities to the virus (SARS-CoV-1) responsible for the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic nearly 20 years earlier. The spike proteins of both viruses dictate tissue tropism using the angiotensin-converting enzyme type 2 (ACE-2) receptor to bind to cells. The ACE-2 receptor can be found in nervous system tissue and endothelial cells among the tissues of many other organs.Neurological complications have been observed with COVID-19. Myalgia and headache are relatively common, but serious neurological disease appears to be rare. No part of the neuraxis is spared. The neurological disorders occurring with COVID-19 may have many pathophysiological underpinnings. Some appear to be the consequence of direct viral invasion of the nervous system tissue, others arise as a postviral autoimmune process, and still others are the result of metabolic and systemic complications due to the associated critical illness. This review addresses the preliminary observations regarding the neurological disorders reported with COVID-19 to date and describes some of the disorders that are anticipated from prior experience with similar coronaviruses.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Encephalitis; Meningitis; Myositis; Neurological complications; SARS-CoV-2; Stroke.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Allen AM, et al. Neuronal angiotensin. In: Squire LR, et al., editors. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. New York: Academic Press; 2009. pp. 697–702.
    1. Arabi YM, Harthi A, Hussein J, Bouchama A, Johani S, Hajeer AH, Saeed BT, Wahbi A, Saedy A, AlDabbagh T, Okaili R, Sadat M, Balkhy H. Severe neurologic syndrome associated with middle east respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) Infection. 2015;43(4):495–501. doi: 10.1007/s15010-015-0720-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bhatraju Pavan K., Ghassemieh Bijan J., Nichols Michelle, Kim Richard, Jerome Keith R., Nalla Arun K., Greninger Alexander L., Pipavath Sudhakar, Wurfel Mark M., Evans Laura, Kritek Patricia A., West T. Eoin, Luks Andrew, Gerbino Anthony, Dale Chris R., Goldman Jason D., O’Mahony Shane, Mikacenic Carmen. Covid-19 in Critically Ill Patients in the Seattle Region — Case Series. New England Journal of Medicine. 2020;382(21):2012–2022. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2004500. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. CDC (2020) SARS basic fact sheet. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) [cited 2020 March 29]; Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/sars/about/fs-sars.html
    1. Chan JF, Kok KH, Zhu Z, Chu H, To KK, Yuan S, Yuen KY. Genomic characterization of the 2019 novgersel human-pathogenic coronavirus isolated from a patient with atypical pneumonia after visiting Wuhan. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020;9(1):221–236. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1719902. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms