Discussion
Guillain– Barré Syndrome is a rare but serious health disorder,
triggered by an infection or immune stimulus, in which a person’s own
immune system damages his/her peripheral nerve cells as a result of
molecular mimicry, causing muscle weakness, sometimes paralysis, and
infrequently death10,11. Several diagnostic criteria for Guillain Barré
Syndrome have been proposed, including the recent one set by the
Brighton Collaboration12.
Vaccine-associated Guillain–Barre syndrome is defined as those with the
onset of GBS symptoms within the six-week period after receiving the
vaccine, as reported by Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS)
13.
Yong Chen et al suggest that previous case reports of Gg shortly after
administration of several other vaccines probably represent coincidental
temporal associations rather than real causal associations14.
COVID-19 infection creates an immunomediate systemic response
characterized by cytokine storm15. It is still the subject of research
if GBS linked to COVID- 19 is due to antibody production against
specific gangliosides as seen in some forms of GBS or T-cell- mediated
actions or straight neuroinvasive events16,17.
Filosto et al, carried out a study in two Italian regions with the
highest number of COVID-19-positive patients. It, showed a considerably
higher GBS incidence in March and April 2020 than in the same months of
2019 with a 2.6-fold increase. The majority of GBS cases (88%) were
COVID-19 positive with an estimated incidence of 47.86/100 000
COVID-19-positive cases and of 236/100000 in the hospitalized
COVID-19-positive population18.
The real connection between the vaccination for COVID-19 and the
development of GBS is still controversial , although GBS cases have been
reported following a wide range of vaccines such as meningococcal
vaccine, poliovirus vaccine, flu vaccine and rabies vaccine19.