Health: The link between the Zika virus and Guillain-Barre syndrome explained
Health: The link between the Zika virus and Guillain-Barre syndrome explained - A link has been found between Zika virus infection and Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare disorder that affects the nervous system and can result in disability and death.
Scientists made the discovery after analysing blood samples from 42 people diagnosed with GBS during a major Zika outbreak in French Polynesia between October 2013 and April 2014.
The data suggests that if 100,000 people were infected with the virus, 24 would be expected to develop the disorder, which is associated with bacterial or viral infections.
In Europe and North America, GBS affects only about one or two people in every 100,000 each year. With such an obvious gap between those two figures we have looked to answer questions about the link.
Health: The link between the Zika virus and Guillain-Barre syndrome explained
What is Guillain-Barre syndrome or GBS?
GBS is a rare but serious disorder in which the immune system is thought to run out of control and attack peripheral nerves. Symptoms develop rapidly, causing muscle weakness and pain. In severe cases muscles affecting speech, swallowing and breathing may be paralysed. In about 20% to 30% of cases, GBS can lead to respiratory failure, and about 5% of patients die.
Thankfully, Guillain-Barre syndrome is rare. Across Europe and North America it affects only one to two members of the general public out of 100,000 each year. One of the most common risk factors is infection by the food-poisoning bug Campylobacter jejuni, a common cause of gastroenteritis found in contaminated poultry. On very, very few occasions, GBS has been known to occur after receiving a flu jab.A group of 42 patients diagnosed with GBS on the Pacific island of Tahiti, French Polynesia, experienced symptoms of Zika infection some six days before they started to develop neurological problems. All had Zika virus antibodies in their blood.
Based on an analysis of data from these patients, experts calculated a GBS incidence rate of 24 cases per 100,000 people infected with the Zika virus. Despite the risk still being relatively low, this is much higher than the incidence rate for the general population.
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