Open AccessImpaired Consciousness in a Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patient Caused by Low Serum Sodium: A Case Report
Author(s) -
Kazuhiro Abe,
Tomohito Nagai,
Sayaka Ono,
Masaru Komino,
Kazuki Sato,
Hikaru Nagahara,
Kazuyuki Nishimura
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
jma journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2433-3298
pISSN - 2433-328X
DOI - 10.31662/jmaj.2021-0023
Subject(s) - covid-19 , coronavirus , disease , medicine , consciousness , virology , psychology , neuroscience , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak
A 30 year-old man with a high fever (37.5°C-40°C), vomiting, slurred speech, and mild cognitive impairment was admitted to our Emergency Department. He had traveled from Spain to the UK on business at the end of February 2020. A nasopharyngeal swab was positive by RT-PCR for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sample was negative. His neurological abnormalities recovered completely on saline infusion to normalize his low serum sodium level. Although neurological abnormalities in patients with COVID-19 are rare, it is important to distinguish the etiologies including encephalitis, meningitis, or merely electrolyte abnormalities.