New-onset refractory status epilepticus following the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine.
J Neuroimmunol
; 357: 577629, 2021 08 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1260802
ABSTRACT
Coronavirus is a novel human pathogen causing fulminant respiratory syndrome (COVID-19). Developing an effective and reliable vaccine was emergently pursued to control the dramatic spread of the global pandemic. The standard stages for vaccine development were unprecedentedly accelerated over a few months. We report a case of new-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) after receiving the first dose of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine. We attribute the occurrence of NORSE to the vaccine due to the temporal relationship and the lack of risk factors for epilepsy in the patient. This report adds to the literature a possible rare side effect of a COVID-19 vaccine and contributes to the extremely limited literature on potential neurological side effects of viral vector vaccines. Healthcare providers should be aware of the possibility of post-vaccination epilepsy. The patient had recurrent seizures that were refractory to conventional antiepileptic drug therapy with a dramatic response to immunotherapy with pulse steroids and plasmapheresis. This likely reflects an underlying autoimmune mechanism in the genesis of post-vaccination generalized seizures without fever. Further research is needed to probe and study the exact mechanism at a more molecular level.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Status Epilepticus
/
Drug Resistant Epilepsy
/
COVID-19 Vaccines
Type of study:
Case report
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
J Neuroimmunol
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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