Paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration as a presenting manifestation of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

Nanda, Satyan; Handa, Rahul; Prasad, Atul; Anand, Rajiv; Zutshi, Dhruv; Dass, Sujata K.; Bedi, Prabhjeet Kaur; Pahuja, Aarti; Shah, Pankaj Kumar; Sharma, Bipan; Malhotra, Nalin

BACKGROUND: Neurological manifestation in COVID-19 infection can be seen in almost one third of the patients. Although, acute encephalopathy is quite commonly seen in patients of COVID-19 infection, encephalitis characterised by brain inflammation is relatively rare. Encephalitis caused by Herpes simplex type 1 is the most common cause of sporadic encephalitis, and early diagnosis and prompt treatment can prevent the devastating outcome. OBJECTIVE: In this brief communication, we report a case of COVID-19-associated haemorrhagic encephalitis mimicking herpes encephalitis. DISCUSSION: In today’s pandemic era, it is very important to distinguish herpes encephalitis from COVID-19-associated encephalitis as treatment and prognosis of both the conditions differ greatly. CONCLUSION: Recently, a large number of studies have reported varied neurological presentations of COVID-19 infection; thus, it is imperative for physicians to have a high index of suspicion for COVID-19 infection in a patient of encephalitis associated with respiratory complaints. This case highlights the importance of suspecting COVID-19 infection in a patient presenting with clinical symptoms and brain imaging suggestive of Herpes encephalitis.