ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has caused a pandemic that has recently affected every aspect of life. Fortunately, many vaccines with high safety and efficacy profiles were developed timely to face this pandemic. In a very short time, billions of people were vaccinated. In the meantime, a wide range of neurological syndromes are being reported. Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) which is a rare immune-mediated post-infectious peripheral neuropathy was reported after both the COVID-19 infection itself and many types of its vaccines. Method(s): We are reporting a case of post-AstraZeneca vaccine GBS and reviewing the literature of all reported post-COVID-19 vaccines GBS till July 2021. Result(s): 29 adult patients were reported. Of them 58.6% were males. Their mean age is 58.2 years. The median time to clinical onset after vaccine administration was 13.2 days. 86.2% of patients had their symptoms following immunization with the 1st dose of AstraZeneca vector-based covid vaccine. Facial palsy was the most predominant single symptom in 75.8% of patients. Conclusion(s): Guillain-Barre syndrome is a well-recognized but still rare adverse event following vaccination against COVID-19. Although preliminary data incriminates viral vector-based vaccines more than the other types, active post-vaccination surveillance and more powerful statistics are mandatory to reach a solid conclusion regarding the presence of a causal relation.Copyright © 2022
ABSTRACT
Background: During the era of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, various neurological syndromes were reported during or after the infection. Fortunately, efforts were made to successfully develop various vaccines with high efficacy and safety. Despite the promising results of those vaccines, they are too novel to be fully understood. Here we are shedding light on a neurological case presentation that may be attributed to one of the COVID-19 vaccines. Case presentation: A 23-year-old male patient with no prior comorbidities presented with quadriparesis and numbness that were clinically and electrophysiologically consistent with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). The condition started 10 days after the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Moreover, MRI of the brain and spinal cord has shown evidence of non-specific central demyelination. Despite the radiological finding, the patient is not fulfilling the diagnosis of a known demyelination disorder and the lesions regressed on follow-up. Since no better explanation or trigger could be found, a post-vaccination immune-mediated reaction was considered. Conclusion(s): We still cannot assume the certainty of the causality association between the vaccine and the neurological presentation. Meanwhile, we suggest vigilance for cases of GBS or myelitis following vaccination for Covid-19 and that post-vaccination surveillance programs ensure a statistically significant tool to prove or dispsrove the causality.Copyright © 2022 The Authors
ABSTRACT
SARS-CoV-2 infection has been associated with multiple neurological manifestations. One such manifestation, which has been described since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and is relevant for current neurological practice, is Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS). The literature describes neurotoxic mechanisms of the virus itself and the possible pathways by which it may affect the peripheral nerves in experimental studies;however, we still lack information on the mechanisms causing the immune response that gives rise to GBS in the context of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Colombia is one of the Latin American countries worst affected by the pandemic, with the third-highest number of cases in the region;thus, it is essential to recognise GBS, as this potential postinfectious complication may severely compromise the patient's functional status in the absence of timely diagnosis and treatment. We present a series of 12 cases of GBS associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection from hospitals in 4 different Colombian cities and describe the clinical presentation, laboratory and electrophysiological study findings, and treatment.Copyright © 2022 Sociedad Espanola de Neurologia