Spontaneous intracranial hemorrhage in a patient with Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus

Abstract

The Middle East respiratory syndrome corona virus (MERS-CoV) is a novel positive sense singlestranded ribonucleic acid virus of the genus Beta corona virus. This virus was first isolated from a patient who died from severe respiratory illness in June 2012 in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We describe an unusual case of a 42 year old healthcare worker who was admitted to our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, with MERS-CoV and severe acute respiratory distress Syndrome and developed a sudden-onset diabetes insipidus and spontaneous massive intracranial hemorrhage with intra-ventricular extension and tonsillar herniation. Computed angiogram of the brain did not reveal any aneurysm or structural defects. She never had uncontrolled hypertension, or coagulopathy, nor she received antiplatelets. We are reporting a rare case of structural neurological damage associated with MERS-CoV infection.