TITLE:
Tuberculous Meningitis and COVID-19 Co-Infection: About a Case
AUTHORS:
Ayoub Maaroufi, Abdellatif Diai, Nouredine Jebbar, Lotfi Bibiche, Kaissi Jaber, Nabil Jbili, Hicham Kechna, Jaouad Laoutid
KEYWORDS:
Tuberculous Meningitis, Meningoencephalitis, COVID-19, Critical Care
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Clinical Diagnostics,
Vol.11 No.2,
June
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: We report the case of an adult patient diagnosed with acute SARS-CoV-2-associated meningoencephalitis based on the detection of its RNA on a nasopharyngeal swab, cerebrospinal fluid analysis. The most destructive type of extrapulmonary tuberculosis is tuberculous meningitis, in which the consequences are severe, resulting in death or disability in almost half of all sufferers despite anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical and paraclinical features and laboratory findings and outcome of a patient with tuberculous meningitis and COVID-19 coinfection. Infection of COVID-19 and lymphopenia promotes the development of the severe form of tuberculosis. On the other hand, TBM increased the risk of infection with coronavirus due to the weakened immune system in addition to other immunosuppressive factors (older age and comorbidities such as low socioeconomic status and malnutrition). The patient had a good recovery even if he required intensive neurorehabilitation for a month due to poor feeding and weakness. Treatment, both anti-mycobacterial and anti-inflammatory, early started, guaranteed good recovery.