In this review, we have attempted to highlight the neurologic complications associated with COVID-19 infections. Commonly seen phenomena include headaches and anosmia and now are often considered part of the typical prodrome of COVID-19 infections. Cerebrovascular complications are important conditions to consider in these patients but fortunately occur in only a minority of patients. COVID-19 infection appears to lower the seizure threshold and severe infections are often associated with encephalopathy.
Meningoencephalitis in COVID-19 is extremely rare. Emerging reports are shedding light on post-acute COVID-19 sequelae such as cranial neuropathies, GBS, and transverse myelitis most of which are thought to originate via an autoimmune mechanism. Finally, there remains the unsolved mystery of long COVID-19. Several questions remain in the wake of recovery from COVID-19 and the widespread dissemination of vaccines.
Assuming less severe infections, will neurologic complications be limited to cranial neuropathies and headaches? Will patients who have recovered from COVID-19 infections be at increased risk for future cerebrovascular disease due to irreparable vascular damage?
Will there be post-infectious sequelae such as the encephalitis lethargica cases which were seen after the Spanish influenza epidemic? Does infection with COVID-19 variants target the nervous system in selective ways? Are the evolving SARS-CoV-2 variants less neurotropic? We await the answers to these and many more as the landscape of COVID-19 infections changes in the coming years.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9022395/