Patients with COVID-19 and neurological manifestations show undetectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in the cerebrospinal fluid

Abstract

We report that patients with COVID-19 displaying distinct neurological disorders have undetectable or extremely low levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the cerebrospinal fluid, indicating that viral clearance precede the neurological involvement. This finding points to the need for the development of more sensitive molecular tests and the investigation of other neurotropic pathogens to exclude concurrent neuroinfection.

Keywords

• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2 RNA
• RT-PCR
• Neurological manifestations
• Cerebrospinal fluid