NEURO-COVID: A PRELIMINARY REVIEW

Abstract

This article reviews some very recent publications pertaining to the long-term neuropsychological effects of COVID 19 (neuroCOVID). Although such publications are now appearing in large numbers on a daily basis, we still do not have enough data of sufficient quality to enable any firm conclusions to be reached. At this point, then, the authors determined to consider the main questions that have emerged so far, as we wait for the results of more thorough research in the future. The article takes up three main questions: (1). What is the etiology and pathomechanism of the neuropsychological symptoms caused by SAR-CoV-2 infection, and what is the prognosis? (2). Of the reported symptoms, which ones should be considered pathognomonic, and what is their significance? (3). What can clinicians do for their patients now, in the absence of the kind of data we need to answer either of the other two questions with any degree of certainty? Although it is not possible at this point in time to answer any of these questions definitively, it does seem increasingly clear that the problems are complex, not only at the cellular level, but also (and perhaps more so) at the conceptual level. The common report of “brain fog,” for example, very much needs to be explored, in order to determine what this vague term actually means, and what, if anything, can be done to allevi- ate it. This will require us to rethink such basic concepts as consciousness, and also to commit ourselves to genuinely interdisciplinary study.