Severe Intractable Headache as a Presentation of COVID-19 in a 23-Year-Old
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Keywords

COVID-19
Hemorrhagic stroke
Intracerebral hemorrhage

How to Cite

Lloréns-Bonilla, A., Rodríguez-Santiago, M., Vargas-Rodríguez, J., Galíndez-de Jesús, G., & Colón-Mázquez, J. (2022). Severe Intractable Headache as a Presentation of COVID-19 in a 23-Year-Old. Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal, 41(2), 100–103. Retrieved from https://prhsj.rcm.upr.edu/index.php/prhsj/article/view/2565

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 is a novel betacoronavirus with a new genome sequence that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which primarily affects the lungs, thus causing pneumonia which can progress to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. New emerging cases of extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19 include gastrointestinal, cardiac, renal, and/or central nervous system involvement. Although an ischemic stroke converting to a hemorrhagic stroke is more commonly seen, spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) in hospitalized COVID-19 patients is on the rise. This case report describes a 23-year-old female who tested positive (via a polymerase chain reaction test) for COVID-19 and presented with new onset of severe intractable headache. The investigation suggested COVID-19 as the most probable cause of this patients’ spontaneous ICH. This case emphasizes the importance of adding COVID-19 to the differential diagnosis of hemorrhagic cerebrovascular accidents in patients with a spontaneous ICH of unclear etiology and, in the process, performing COVID testing.
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