Strikes Fast: Guillain-Barré Syndrome

            Could you imagine one day being able to walk and function normally and then a week later you are in a state of paralysis? Well, with Guillan-Barré syndrome this is a possibility. This is a disorder where the body’s immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The early symptoms include weakness or tingling sensations in the legs and spread to the arms and upper body. These symptom’s intensity increases and can get as far as paralysis. Once paralysis is reached the disorder becomes life-threatening.

            This syndrome is very rare, but usually occurs after a person has had symptoms of a respiratory or gastrointestinal viral infection. I also did a presentation on the Zika Virus in microbiology, and it is found that this can also cause Guillan-Barré syndrome. While it is known that these type of viral infections usually occur before seeing Guillan-Barré syndrome, it is not yet known what actually causes it. For this reason, it can also be difficult to diagnose this syndrome and catch it early on. A few things that aid a doctor in diagnosing the symptoms to be Guillan-Barré syndrome is the fact that it is common for the symptoms to appear on both sides of the body, and also the quickness that the symptoms appear. Most people reach the greatest weakness within the first two weeks of them experiencing initial symptoms.

            Because it is not known what causes this disorder, there is also no cure for it. However, there are therapies that aid in lessening the severity of the illness and accelerate recovery. Therapies currently being used are: plasma exchange and high-dose immunoglobulin therapy.   

Plasma Exchange: blood removed from body while red and white blood cells separated from the plasma. Blood cells returned to patient without the plasma.

High-Dose Immunoglobulin Therapy: inject proteins that the immune system uses naturally to attack invading organisms.

What I find interesting is that scientists don’t know exactly why these therapies work in reducing the symptoms of this syndrome. While these therapies are helping people that contract Guillan-Barré syndrome, this disorder can take anywhere from weeks to years to recover from. And usually patients are left with long-term weakness or a relapse in weakness. It is clear that there needs to be a lot more research done in order to fully understand Guillan-Barré syndrome and to find new treatments.

Citations

Guillain-Barré Syndrome Fact Sheet. (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2017, from

https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/Patient-Caregiver-Education/Fact-Sheets/Guillain-Barr%C3%A9-Syndrome-Fact-Sheet