Post-COVID damage to the central nervous system

Abstract

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a global pandemic. COVID-19 is caused by the newly identified severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and represents an ongoing global healthcare emergency. As of May 2, 2022, 513.9 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 6 million deaths have been registered in 218 countries around the world. Already at the beginning of the pandemic, it became obvious to researchers that, despite the name of the respiratory syndrome, the damage caused by the novel type of coronavirus is not limited only to the respiratory system, but is multi-organ and multi-system. Although damage to the nervous system is not the first manifesting symptom in this case, it often causes the severity of the condition, long-term consequences, and sometimes death.