Abstract Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), presents a global pandemic with evolving viral variants. In addition to respiratory symptoms, a growing trend of reports indicates that the central nervous system could also be affected in COVID-19 patients. Case presentation Herein, we reported a case of a 61-year-old Chinese male with fever, psychiatric symptoms, and concomitant subdural hemorrhage. Although naso-oropharyngeal swab tests for SARS-CoV-2 ribonucleic acid detections were negative, the metagenomic next-generation sequencing from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples showed the exclusive positive finding of SARS-CoV-2. The patient was diagnosed with probable COVID-19-associated encephalitis, and was recovered after receiving anti-infection medications, high-dose methylprednisolone pulses (1 g/day for 5 days), and subsequent intravenous immunoglobulin (0.4 g/kg body weight for 5 days) therapies. Conclusion Our case underscores the importance that for patients with fever and unexplained neuropsychiatric symptoms, it is recommended to conduct CSF testing to screen for possible pathogen infections, and to perform cranial imaging promptly to detect concomitant lesions.
Liu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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