TITLE:
Cytotoxic Lesions of the Corpus Callosum (CLOCCs) Associated with SARS-CoV-2 Infection in West Africa (Côte d’Ivoire)
AUTHORS:
Ismaila Diakité, Kotchi Elisée Bony, Hiénaya Armel Karidioula, Any Gnazegbo, Muriel Tchwa Amon, Kouame Léonard Kouassi, Idrissa Garba, Anhum Nicaise Konan, Ange Eric Kouame Assouan
KEYWORDS:
Africa South of the Sahara, COVID-19, Corpus Callosum
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Infectious Diseases,
Vol.13 No.2,
May
9,
2023
ABSTRACT: Background: Cytotoxic lesions of the corpus callosum (CLOCCs) represent a collection of disparate conditions that can cause a signal change in the corpus callosum, usually involving the splenium. CLOCCs is present in a variety of disorders, such as cerebral infarction, bleeding, multiple sclerosis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, glioblastoma, lymphoma, metabolic diseases, and infections. Since 2020, World Health Organization (W.H.O) defined Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, as a pandemic. Numerous CLOCCs cases have been reported in adults in particular in Japan, in China, and recently in children in Turkey associated with SARS-CoV-2. We report the first case of CLOCCs diagnosed in West Africa (Côte d’Ivoire) in an adult associated with SARS-CoV-2. Case Report: A 60 year-old-woman with a medical history of high blood pressure and diabetes, presented to the emergency department with confusion without fever. Neurological examination was normal apart from temporospatial disorientation. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed abnormal signals in the splenium of the corpus callosum (SCC). Forty-eight hours (48 h) after admission, the patient experienced a fever (temperature: 385˚C), several episodes of hypoglycemia (capillary blood glycemia levels below 0.5 g/l) and a dry cough. Lung CT imaging showed typical features with ground-glass opacities. Oropharyngeal swab was positive for SARS-CoV-2 on reverse-transcriptase–polymerase-chain-reaction (RT-PCR) assay. The clinical course was favorable. One month after disease onset, a follow-up Brain MRI showed considerable regression of SCC abnormal signal. The multiple episodes of hypoglycemia and SARS-COV 2 infection were incriminated as the causal factors. Conclusion: The improvement of the technical platform in our context of work gives us the possibility to identify the etiological factors of this rare clinico-radiological entity.