Michigan woman with coronavirus develops rare complication affecting brain

[LovingA2andMI]

Detroit Free Press

"A 58-year-old woman hospitalized in the Henry Ford Health System who has the new coronavirus developed a rare complication: encephalitis.

In a case report published online Tuesday in the journal Radiology, a team of doctors say the woman tested positive for the coronavirus, but also developed a case of acute necrotizing encephalitis, or ANE, a central nervous infection that mostly afflicts young children.

It is believed to be the first published case linking COVID-19 and acute necrotizing encephalitis. The rare and serious brain disease can develop in people who have a viral infection, and causes lesions to form in the brain, tissue death and symptoms such as seizures, drowsiness, confusion and coma.

The woman, who was identified as an airline worker, had several days of fever, cough and muscle aches, and was taken by ambulance March 19 to a Henry Ford emergency room, said Dr. Elissa Fory, a Henry Ford neurologist.

The patient also showed signs of confusion, lethargy and disorientation. A flu test turned up negative but a rapid COVID-19 test, developed in-house by Henry Ford’s clinical microbiology lab, confirmed she had the coronavirus, Fory said.

When the woman remained lethargic, doctors ordered repeat CT and MRI scans, which revealed abnormal lesions in both thalami and temporal lobes, parts of the brain that control consciousness, sensation and memory function. These scans confirmed doctors’ early suspicions.

“The team had suspected encephalitis at the outset, but then back-to-back CT and MRI scans made the diagnosis,” Fory said in a news release.

“This is significant for all providers to be aware of and looking out for in patients who present with an altered level of consciousness. We need to be thinking of how we’re going to incorporate patients with severe neurological disease into our treatment paradigm. This complication is as devastating as severe lung disease.”

https://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2020/04/01/michigan-coronavirus-complication-encephalitis/5103698002/

[BusyBeingBest]

1. Oh for the love of God, something else to worry about...

[Afromania]

3. Its like once a week there is a new thing this virus can do to you.

[Walleye]

4. My thought exactly. Thanks for the companionship.

[csziggy]

2. This complication can happen with flu, too

My childhood dentist had a bad case of flu that it developed into encephalitis. He had enough damage that he had to retire. While it was sad, it was not a bad thing for the kids of the town since he was a terrible dentist.

[sakabatou]

5. Same

[greenjar_01]

6. Its an opportunistic infection

And obviously a fairly rare outcome.

[Azathoth]

7. Reporting this stuff isn't helpful. Encephalitis is a rare side effect of lots of viruses

From measles to chickenpox to flu.

[la-trucker]

8. This is extremely rare

It is not the virus itself that invades the brain but it is usually autoimmunity that makes one's own immune system attack the brain.

This happens in a very very few people with many different viral infections.

[defacto7]

9. freep dot com?

If it's from Detroit Free Press post that link. Not freep.

[LovingA2andMI]

10. Denial is easier....

Then realizing there is NO WAY we can know everything about an Virus that has been around since October 2019 - Starting in Wuhan, China.

Not in denial here -- as the virus was suppose to impact the elderly and those who compromised immune systems --- yet 18-49 year olds with little to no medical issues are dying of this virus.

WE...DON'T...KNOW....EVERYTHING....YET! Period!