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Case Reports
. 2020 Oct;92(10):2238-2242.
doi: 10.1002/jmv.26113. Epub 2020 Jun 24.

First case of focal epilepsy associated with SARS-coronavirus-2

Sara Elgamasy  1 , Mohamed G Kamel  2 , Sherief Ghozy  3   4 , Adham Khalil  5 , Mostafa E Morra  6 , Sheikh M S Islam  7
Affiliations
Case Reports

First case of focal epilepsy associated with SARS-coronavirus-2

Sara Elgamasy et al. J Med Virol. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

A healthy patient presented to Klinikum Altmühlfranken Weißenburg Hospital, Germany, with two morning attacks of painful muscle spasm in the left upper and lower limbs, without altered consciousness. Full examinations, radiological imaging, electroencephalography, lumbar puncture, and autoimmune profile were either normal or not consistent with patient's complaint. Subsequent epileptic episodes were observed on admission day and the following days; thus, the patient was diagnosed with focal epilepsy. The patient started to develop a fever and severe cough on day 4, and SARS-coronavirus-2 was confirmed through a nasopharyngeal swap. She received anticonvulsants and symptomatic treatments and completely recovered. This report emphasizes the potential nervous system involvement in severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 pathogenesis.

Keywords: COVID-19; case report; coronavirus; epilepsy; infection; outbreak; pandemic.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Symptoms and maximum body temperatures based on the day of illness and day of hospitalization, from 15 March to 18 April 2020
Figure 2
Figure 2
Posteroanterior chest radiographs, 19 March 2020 (hospital day 3)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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