Post-covid Parkinsonism and response to levodopa:A case report

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) invades many organs including central nervous system through olfactory nerves and hematogenic pathways causing many disorders ranging from mild to severe. In what follows, we discuss a post-covid Parkinsonism case in a previously healthy 59-year-old man one week after mild covid infection.

A 59-year-old man presented with symmetric resting tremor, symmetric rigidity, festinating gait and balance difficulty with a history of COVID-19 one week before admission. Examination was notable for Parkinsonism. Lab tests and MRI were normal. Eight months after starting with levodopa-benserazid, pramipexole, trihexiphenidyl, vitC, vitE and COQ10, the patient had a complete resolution of all symptoms.

Several cases report post-covid Parkinsonism in previously healthy patients with no family history of parkinson’s disease. The age of patients with post-covid Parkinsonism ranged from 35-74 with mild, moderate, or severe symptoms of covid. The most common complaint of patients was tremor and most of them had a significant response to levodopa. Our patient and those mentioned in the case reports did not have any family history of Parkinson’s disease and used to be healthy. These data obtained from case reports indicate that there might be a possible link between covid infection and acute Parkinsonism.