Chinese doctors confirmed for the first time that Covid-19 can damage a patient’s central nervous system.

Doctors from Beijing Ditan Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, a designated institution treating the novel coronavirus, announced on Thursday (March 5) that they have cured a male patient whose cerebrospinal fluid had the virus.

Covid-19 may attack multiple organs, including kidneys, the liver and heart, but there is no record about central nervous system damage, according to a previous study.

The patient, 56, was diagnosed with Covid-19 at the hospital. He had severe symptoms and failed to respond to regular treatment, according to a hospital statement.

In the intensive care unit, the patient developed symptoms associated with decreased consciousness, though there were no abnormal signs in a CT scan of his head.

The medical staff then conducted gene sequencing on samples of his cerebrospinal fluid and confirmed the presence of the coronavirus, diagnosing the Covid-19 patient with encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain. After the treatment of viral encephalitis, the patient’s neurological symptoms gradually disappeared.

He was transferred to a separated ward on February 18 and discharged from the hospital on February 25.

ICU director of the hospital Liu Jingyuan said that once a Covid-19 patient is found to have consciousness disorder, medical staff should consider the possibility of nervous system infection and carry out cerebrospinal fluid tests in time to avoid delayed diagnosis and further reduce the mortality rate of patients in critical condition.

Researchers have previously found that the SARS and MERS viruses can also invade patients’ nervous systems.

China’s National Health Commission earlier this week unveiled the latest version of the national diagnosis and treatment plan for Covid-19, which mentioned that the disease could cause congestion, edema and neuronal degeneration in brain tissues.