Psychiatria pre prax 4/2020

Neuropsychiatric manifestations in covid-19

First cases of COVID-19 disease were described in December 2019 in Chinese province Wuhan in patients with nonspecific virus pneumonia. The COVID-19 disease is caused by novel coronavirus named SARS-CoV-2, which is RNA virus, which also include the causative agents of SARS and MERS. Within a few weeks and subsequently in the course of 2020, there was a worldwide pandemic spread of COVID-19 with a high number of lethal cases. At the begining we generaly supposted that the main clinical feature are respiratory disturbances, but during the time with new knowledge we look at COVID-19 disease as multisystem disease. The aim of this review article is to present current knowledge about the neurotropism of the novel coronavirus and the spectrum of neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms of COVID-19.

Keywords: novel coronavirus, COVID-19, neuropsychiatric features, pathogenetic mechanisms