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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 23
| Issue : 7 | Page : 44 |
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Alteration of consciousness as initial presentation in COVID-19: Observation
Beuy Joob1, Viroj Wiwanitkit2
1 Sanitation1 Medical Academic Center, Bangkok, Thailand
2 Honorary Profeessor, Dr DY Patil University, Pune, India; Visiting Professor, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, China
| Date of Submission | 26-Feb-2020 |
| Date of Decision | 28-Feb-2020 |
| Date of Acceptance | 28-Feb-2020 |
| Date of Web Publication | 17-Apr-2020 |
Correspondence Address:
Beuy Joob
Sanitation1 Medical Academic Center, Bangkok
Thailand
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/aian.AIAN_123_20
How to cite this article:
Joob B, Wiwanitkit V. Alteration of consciousness as initial presentation in COVID-19: Observation. Ann Indian Acad Neurol 2020;23, Suppl S1:44 |
To the Editor,
COVID-19 is a newly emerging respiratory disease that is caused by a novel coronavirus namely SARS-CoV- 2.[1] The disease was firstly reported from China, then it spread to several countries including Thailand.[2] In clinical neurology, the neurological manifestation of COVID-19 is interesting but little mentioned. Alteration of consciousness might be an initial presentation in coronavirus infection.[3] For COVID-19, the data on this issue is limited. Here, we would like to exchange the observation from Thailand, the second country in the world that this new respiratory disease existed.[2]
At present (February 22th, 2020), there are 35 patients with COVID-19 in Thailand. Of these 35 cases, no case had confusion as initial clinical presentation. From additional analysis on available data on 237 published cases in China,[4],[5] one patient had confusion as initial presentation giving the rate equal to 0.42% (95% confidence interval = 0.06% - 2.98%). The exact interrelationship between COVID-19 and confusion is still unknown. Based on these data, a few patients with COVID-19 might have confusion as an initial clinical presentation. If the practitioner does not recognize this possibility, the case might be missed.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
 References | |  |
| 1. | Hsia W. Emerging new coronavirus infection in Wuhan, China: Situation in early 2020. Case Study Case Rep 2020;10:8-9.  |
| 2. | Yasri S, Wiwanitkit V. Editorial: Wuhan coronavirus outbreak and imported case. Adv Trop Med Pub Health Int 2019;9:1-2. |
| 3. | Arabi YM, Harthi A, Hussein J, Bouchama A, Johani S, Hajeer AH, et al. Infection. Severe neurologic syndrome associated with Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) 2015;43:495-501. |
| 4. | Wang D, Hu B, Hu C, Zhu F, Liu X, Zhang J, et al. Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized patients with 2019 novel coronavirus-infected pneumonia in Wuhan, China. JAMA 2020. doi: 10.1001/jama. 2020.1585. [Epub ahead of print] |
| 5. | Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, Qu J, Gong F, Han Y, et al. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: A descriptive study. Lancet 2020;395:507-13. |
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