Link of COVID-19 and Neurodegenerative Disorders

Abstract

In December 2019, for the first time, a mysterious pneumonia illness was reported in a patient in Wuhan, China, which later

spread to several countries. Later, investigations revealed that mysterious pneumonia is termed “coronavirus disease 2019”. It

was caused by “2019-nCoV”, a new member of the coronavirus family, which was responsible for this epidemic (later declared

as a pandemic). The newly identified 2019-nCoV belongs to the member of enveloped RNA virus family comprising of SARSCoV

(Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-19) and MERS-CoV. The SARS-CoV-2 mediated COVID-19 spread

rapidly all over the world and has been officially recognized as a pandemic by WHO. To date (23rd December 2021), this virus

has infected several million populations (275,233,892 confirmed cases) with mortality close to 5,364,996, even though

8,387,658,165 vaccine doses have been administered [1]. A large number of recent research highlights the detailed impact of

COVID-19 on the general population. Several previous findings on SARS-CoV on patients and experimental animals show that

this virus also infects the brain, including the brainstem. Findings also revealed the entry of MERS- or SARS-CoV via olfactory

nerves. There are findings reporting the presence of the virus within the brain, suggesting the direct transfer of the virus within

the central nervous system (CNS) via olfactory nerves. The purpose of this special issue was to provide information on the relationship

between SARS-CoV2 mediated viral infection and the CNS, as well as its impact on patients with neurodegenerative

disorders and the use of computational approaches. (Artificial Intelligence, Deep Machine Learning, and Bibliometric analysis).