Encephalitis Associated With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Child With Chiari Malformation Type I

There is increasing evidence that patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop neurological manifestations such as encephalitis. The purpose of this article was to present a case of viral encephalitis associated with SARS-CoV-2 in a 14-year-old child with Chiari malformation type I.

The patient manifested frontal headache, nausea, vomiting, skin pallor, right side Babinski sign and was diagnosed with Chiari malformation type I. He was admitted with generalized seizures and suspected encephalitis. Brain inflammation and viral RNA in the cerebrospinal fluid suggested SARS-CoV-2 encephalitis. These findings indicate that the SARS-CoV-2 test in CSF of patients with neurological manifestations, confusion, and fever during the COVID-19 pandemic should be carried out even when there is no evidence of respiratory infection. To our knowledge, this presentation of encephalitis associated with COVID-19 has not yet been reported in a patient with a congenital syndrome such as Chiari malformation type I.

Further clinical data are needed to determine the complications of encephalitis due to SARS-CoV-2 in patients with Chiari malformation type I to standardize diagnosis and treatment.