Emerging Neuropathophysiological and Acid-base Disorder in Coronavirus Disease-19: A Close Look at Diagnostic Prospect in Containment Operations

Abstract

The two major barriers militating against rapid containment of the spread of coronavirus (CoV) disease (COVID)-19 include lack of effective contact tracing and the failure to detect and diagnose the infection early. Lack of diagnostic tools for early diagnosis has contributed to the bane of the current wild spread of COVID-19 and its containment. The current chest computed tomography (CT) for COVID-19 screening, an evolving technique, is arguably reported to have 97% diagnostic sensitivity over the viral polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that has detection of 70%. However, CT has largely been criticized as speculative and thus generates disagreement among various international radiology societies and organizations. Until now, nucleic acid detection by real-time PCR (advanced with next-generation sequencing) remains the gold standard test and clinical diagnosis technique for COVID-19. The use of this method in diagnoses, while it is more precise, is also time-consuming and may not meet the goal of rapid detection of early infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome CoV-2. Although many available tests, such as other PCR-based, serology, isothermal nucleic amplification, and among others, are coming up, the testing accuracy and/or timeliness have hampered their expected performance level. As a result, there is still a need to develop more methods to detect the current spread of COVID-19 rapidly. COVID-19 is now associated with olfactory dysfunctions in several reports. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) established that anosmia is a notable symptom of COVID-19. Furthermore, acute systemic acidosis has been associated with COVID-19. This report critically discusses the potential pathophysiologies of COVID-19 in association with neuropathological and acid-base disorders and their prospect for diagnostics.