BENGALURU: Doctors are witnessing neurological disorders such as strokes and onset of worsening of migrane in Covid-infected patients, according to experts.
According to Dr Srinivasa R, senior consultant-neurology, Global centre of excellence in neurosciences, Aster hospitals, Bengaluru, as per a study done by NIMHANS in Bengaluru and Yashoda hospital in Hyderabad, among 3,200 people with neurological disorders, 120 had developed neurological diseases linked to coronavirus. These are seen mainly in the 20-45 age group.
And those with co-morbid conditions are at higher risk. These complications could be because of the altered immune response or dis-regulation of immune response during post infectious state, Dr Srinivasa said.
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Dr Kranthi Mohan, consultant Neurologist, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital, said, “We have witnessed nearly 80 per cent of hospitalised patients developing neurological disorders during the course of the Covid illness or post recovery. Acute stroke, both ischemic and haemorrhagic, was seen in 0.2 to 3 per cent of the patients we treated. A more common issue that patients complained of was new onset migraine or worsening of previous migraine,” he said
Dr Anil R, consultant and head, department of neurology, Manipal Hospital Hebbal, said, some of the major neurological complications we have encountered during Covid pandemic are encephalopathy/encephalitis (brain infection), myelitis (infection or inflammation of spinal cord) and GB syndrome (dying nerves in the body resulting in weakness of all 4 limbs, usually occurring after couple of weeks after Covid infection, though very rare. It sometimes leaves the person with permanent disability. The conditon can also lead to strokes because of increased clotting factors (clot forming factors) in the blood. Post Covid, we have seen almost two to three people every day recovering from Covid complaining of increased migrane, sleep disturbance and anxiety,” he said.
Dr Srinivasa said, “These neurological complications depend of how our immune system responds to infection. So it is not possible to take any precaution to prevent these neurological complications once we are infected, so it is better to avoid coronavirus by following protocols.”