Premium
Guillain‐Barré Syndrome following ChAdOx1‐S / nCoV ‐19 Vaccine
Author(s) -
Maramattom Boby V.,
Krishnan Parameswaran,
Paul Reji,
Padmanabhan Sandeep,
Cherukudal Vishnu Nampoothiri Soumya,
Syed Akheel A.,
Mangat Halinder S.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.26143
Subject(s) - guillain barre syndrome , medicine , vaccination , covid-19 , population , pediatrics , adverse effect , weakness , immunology , virology , outbreak , surgery , environmental health , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
As of April 22, 2021, around 1.5 million individuals in three districts of Kerala, India had been vaccinated with COVID‐19 vaccines. Over 80% of these individuals (1.2 million) received the ChAdOx1‐S/nCoV‐19 vaccine. In this population, during this period of 4 weeks (mid‐March to mid‐April 2021), we observed seven cases of Guillain‐Barre syndrome (GBS) that occurred within 2 weeks of the first dose of vaccination. All seven patients developed severe GBS. The frequency of GBS was 1.4‐ to 10‐fold higher than that expected in this period for a population of this magnitude. In addition, the frequency of bilateral facial weakness, which typically occurs in <20% of GBS cases, suggests a pattern associated with the vaccination. While the benefits of vaccination substantially outweigh the risk of this relatively rare outcome (5.8 per million), clinicians should be alert to this possible adverse event, as six out of seven patients progressed to areflexic quadriplegia and required mechanical ventilatory support. ANN NEUROL 2021;90:312–314