The surge of Bell’s palsy in COVID - pandemic era
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/issn.2454-5929.ijohns20204628Keywords:
Bell’s palsy, COVID19, Novel coronavirusAbstract
Background: COVID-19 is declared as a pandemic by WHO. Bell’s palsy is defined as isolated, sudden, peripheral facial paralysis of unknown etiology. Viral infections are capable of causing facial paralysis through infecting the motor neurons of brainstem, seventh nerve ganglia or through infections of supporting cells of the nerve, along with secondary inflammation and oedema, blocking the nerve function. Similarly, coronaviruses are known to have a neuroinvasive propensity.
Methods: Our study was aimed to report the increased number of cases of Bell’s palsy in the current COVID pandemic era and to hypothesize the probable role of coronavirus in the pathogenesis of Bell’s palsy. A total of 30 patients presenting with unilateral facial palsy in this COVID era were included in the study.
Results: This prospective analysis of Bell’s palsy cases showed 30 cases in the COVID pandemic era, where the total number of OPD patients were 3720. This shows a percentage of Bell’s palsy cases as 0.8 % when compared to 0.05% in the pre-covid time.
Conclusions: This study shows that there might be an effect of COVID-19 virus on the immune status of the individuals along with stress induced reactivation of underlying viral infection.
Metrics
References
Zingone F, Buda A, Savarino EV. Screening for active COVID-19 infection and immunization status prior to biologic therapy in IBD patients at the time of the pandemic outbreak. Dig Liver Dis. 2020;52(6):604-5.
Elsaie ML, Youssef EA, Nada HA. Herpes zoster might be an indicator for Latent COVID 19 infection. Dermatol Therap. 2020:e13666.
Lechien JR, Chiesa-Estomba CM, De Siati DR, Horoi M, Le Bon SD, Rodriguez A, et al. Olfactory and gustatory dysfunctions as a clinical presentation of mild-to-moderate forms of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19): a multicenter European study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020;277(8):2251-61.
Roe K. Explanation for COVID-19 infection neurological damage and reactivations. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2020;67(4):1414-5.
Morgan M, Nathwani D. Facial palsy and infection: the unfolding story. Clin Infect Dis. 1992;14:263-71.
Mustafa AHK, Suleiman AM. Bell’s Palsy: a prospective study. Hindawi Int J Dentist.2020;1-5.
Davis LE. Experimental viral infections of the facial nerve and geniculate ganglion. Am Neurol Assoc. 1981;9:120-5.
Boopathi S, Poma AB, Kolandaivel P. Novel 2019 coronavirus structure, mechanism of action, antiviral drug promises and rule out against its treatment. J Biomol Struct Dyn. 2020;1-10.
Gao Y, Yan L, Huang Y, Liu F, Zhao Y, Cao L, et al. Structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase from COVID-19 virus. Science. 2020;368(6492):779-82.
Parija SC. Miscellaneous viruses. In: Parija SC, ed. Textbook of Microbiology and Immunology. 2nd edition. Elsevier India; 2012:588.
Goh Y, Beh DLL, Makmur A, Somani J, Chan ACY. Pearls and Oysters: Facial nerve palsy in COVID-19 infection. Neurology. 2020;95(8):364-7.
Ikeda M, Hiroshige K, Abiko Y, Onoda K. Impaired specific cellular immunity to the varicella-zoster virus in patients with herpes zoster oticus. J Laryngol Otol. 1996;110:918-21.
Caamaño DSJ, Beato RA. Facial diplegia, a possible atypical variant of Guillain-Barré Syndrome as a rare neurological complication of SARS-CoV-2. J Clin Neurosci. 2020;77:230-2.
Fang L, Karakiulakis G, Roth M. Are patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus at higher risk of COVID-19 infection? Lancet Respir Med. 2020;8(4):e21.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
