Neurological aspects that should not be forgotten during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 disease, in addition to causing the most common respiratory and systemic symptoms, such as cough and fever, has the ability to cause neurological manifestations such as headache, dizziness and altered mental status, which should not be overlooked by physicians when evaluating their patients, because even these manifestations suggest the presence of more severe disease, due to a poor immune response of the body against the virus. SARS-CoV2 infects cells through the Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, because it is a receptor that is located in neurons, glial cells, and vascular endothelium, it is believed that the neurological symptoms are due to the direct invasion of the virus into the nervous system. Also, neurological complications to which this disease can lead have been identified, such as acute ischemic and hemorrhagic cerebrovascular events and direct infections to the central nervous system, such as meningoencephalitis and acute myelitis. For this reason, all physicians must take into account the neurological aspects involved in SARS-CoV2 infection, from the evaluation of suspected COVID-19 patients to the follow-up of confirmed cases throughout their disease.