Zika Virus: Evidence Supports Link To Guillain-Barre Syndrome

The strongest biological evidence yet linking Zika virus infection and Guillain-Barré syndrome is being reported by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The collaboration with scientists at six Colombian hospitals, supports the correlation with immunologic and viral evidence of Zika infection in a significant amount of people with Guillain-Barré, the investigators say.

Epidemiology data have long suggested a close relationship between rising Zika virus infection rates and instances of Guillain-Barré. Guillain-Barré is a highly rare and potentially paralyzing disorder of the nervous system. It appears days to weeks after infection with viruses or bacteria.

A so-called post-infectious immune condition, it occurs when a person’s own immune system attacks the myelin sheaths that protect the body’s nerve cells, often resulting in muscle weakness, pain, sensory deficiencies and, in very acute cases, paralysis. The condition, which affects an estimated one or two out of 100,000 people after infections, is diagnosed with electrodiagnostic neurological tests that measure the conductive speed and activity of nerve signals.

In a related story, five cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome associated with Zika virus infection have been confirmed in Mexico, the country’s Secretary of Health reported.

Neurological Complications

Scientists do not know why Guillain-Barré strikes some people and not others.






Most of the patients were adults. 38 were males, and 30 were females of an average of 47 years old. Almost all patients displayed two or more clinical symptoms of Zika infection, which include fever, headache, rash and conjunctivitis.

Unusually Fast Response

The researchers say that almost one-half of the study participants complained of neurologic symptoms within four days of the onset of Zika symptoms. This is an unusually fast response, they say, compared to what is found in people who develop Guillain-Barré symptoms after other viral infections, such as influenza and herpesviruses.





The Mexican cases, the World Health Organization said, put Mexico on a list with more than a dozen other countries that have reported cases of the Zika-linked syndrome.

Beatriz Parra, Jairo Lizarazo, Jorge A. Jiménez-Arango, Andrés F. Zea-Vera, Guillermo González-Manrique, José Vargas, Jorge A. Angarita, Gonzalo Zuñiga, Reydmar Lopez-Gonzalez, Cindy L. Beltran, Karen H. Rizcala, Maria T. Morales, Oscar Pacheco, Martha L. Ospina, Anupama Kumar, David R. Cornblath, Laura S. Muñoz, Lyda Osorio, Paula Barreras, Carlos A. Pardo
Guillain–Barré Syndrome Associated with Zika Virus Infection in Colombia
New England Journal of Medicine, 2016; DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1605564