Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and neurodegenerative disorders

During the last few months, the whole humanity is experiencing largest and most severe sudden influx of COVID-19 outbreak caused by the novel coronavirus (CoV) originated from Wuhan, China. According to the WHO reports, total 3 862 676 positive cases and 265 961 deaths have been recorded worldwide due to COVID-19 infection as of May 9, 2020. CoVs are a large family of viruses (enveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses), which includes severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV). New SARS CoV2 is the members of Betacoronavirus genus. These viruses cause infections in bats, camels and humans, and a few other associated species. Despite many neurologic complications associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, it is still unclear whether these symptoms results from direct neural injury or due to some other reason. Currently, it appears that most of the neurological symptoms of COVID-19 are nonspecific and secondary to the systemic illness. A single case of acute hemorrhagic necrotizing encephalopathy has been reported. SARS-CoV-2 associated Guillain-Barre syndrome is an atypical case. Till today, no convincing evidence is available to confirm that the SARS-CoV-2 virus directly affects nerves system in humans. However, postinfection surveillance will be necessary to identify the possible post-COVID-19 neurologic syndromes.