A case of encephalitis following COVID-19 vaccine

Yuya Kobayashi; Seishu Karasawa; Nobuhiko Ohashi; Kanji Yamamoto

doi:10.1016/j.jiac.2022.02.009

A case of encephalitis following COVID-19 vaccine

J Infect Chemother. 2022 Jul;28(7):975-977. doi: 10.1016/j.jiac.2022.02.009. Epub 2022 Feb 17.

Authors

Yuya Kobayashi¹, Seishu Karasawa², Nobuhiko Ohashi², Kanji Yamamoto²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Nagano Municipal Hospital, 1333-1 Tomitake, Nagano, 381-8551, Japan. Electronic address: juriruri@shinshu-u.ac.jp.
² Department of Neurology, Nagano Municipal Hospital, 1333-1 Tomitake, Nagano, 381-8551, Japan.

Abstract

We describe the first case of encephalitis following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination. Our patient was a 46-year-old Japanese woman who presented with acute onset diplopia. Subsequent magnetic resonance imaging revealed brain stem encephalitis that was rapidly responsive to high dosage steroid therapy and completely improved. Although the occurrence of encephalitis after vaccination could have just been a casual temporal association, her symptoms were temporally correlated with two vaccinations. Our case suggests caution and indicates treatment and prognosis, despite no evidence of a causal relationship. Nonetheless, this report emphasizes the enormous benefits of vaccination, which should not be undermined.

Keywords: COVID-19; Encephalitis; SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Vaccines / adverse effects
COVID-19*
Encephalitis* / drug therapy
Encephalitis* / etiology
Female
Humans
Middle Aged
SARS-CoV-2
Vaccination

Substances

COVID-19 Vaccines