Open AccessReworsening of Recurrent Guillain-Barré Syndrome Triggered by COVID-19 Infection
Author(s) -
Gian Luca Vita,
Carmen Terranova,
Maria Sframeli,
Antonio Toscano,
Giuseppe Vita
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
the open neurology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.329
H-Index - 16
ISSN - 1874-205X
DOI - 10.2174/1874205x02115010048
Subject(s) - guillain barre syndrome , medicine , polyradiculoneuropathy , covid-19 , pandemic , vaccination , immunology , viral infection , pediatrics , intravenous immunoglobulins , antibody , virus , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is an acute, immune-mediated, generalized polyradiculoneuropathy often triggered by a bacterial or viral infection, vaccination, or surgery. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, some patients were reported with GBS associated COVID-19 infection. Case Presentation: We report, herein, a patient who had a recurrent GBS after forty years. Intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIg) induced improvement, but her condition worsened suddenly after twenty days, coinciding with a COVID-19 infection. A second IVIg cycle was administered, and she improved again. Conclusion: The take-home message is that in the current pandemic, any re-worsening or lack of improvement after appropriate treatment of GBS or possibly other autoimmune neurological diseases must be checked to determine if it is related to COVID-19 infection.