410The most interesting feature of our case was that of the mother's underlying autoimmune disorder, ulcerative colitis. A number of studies, including several from Europe and Japan, have emphasized antecedent Camp?/~o6oc~r~'e/M~ enteritis as a frequent antecedent infection that may lead to development of Guillain-Barre syndrome.&dquo;-&dquo; Although it is possible that mother could have been infected during pregnancy with Campylobacterjejuni, leading to an exacerbation of ulcerative colitis in the 7th month of gestation, we were unable to demonstrate the presence of this infection.The negative cytomegalovirus antibody immunoglobulin G titer made a preceding cytomegalovirus infection in this infant unlikely. There was maternal serologic evidence after delivery of a past infection with Epstein-Barr virus. It is, therefore, possible that this could have been the antecedent illness, but this cannot be proven by the above data.This brings us to the consideration of the possible relationship of mother's ulcerative colitis or immunologic status to this infant's polyneuropathy. It is conceivable that circulatory autoantibodies to specific enteric structural proteins in ulcerative colitis can cross the placenta. A common amino acid sequence could result in a prominent inflammatory response to peripheral nerve myelin (&dquo;molecular mimicry&dquo;19). However, why the infant's and not the mother's peripheral nerve myelin would be susceptible is unclear. We were only able to find five cases of Guillain-Barr6 syndrome associated with ulcerative colitis.2o,zS ummary . This patient then represents the second documented case in the English medical literature with the diagnosis of in utero-acquired Guillain-Barr6 syndrome with complete recovery and the first neonatal case to fulfill all of the electrophysiologic criteria for Guillain-Barr6 syndrome. This case stresses the good overall prognosis of this disorder when it presents in the neonate and the need to consider Guillain-Barr6 syndrome in the differential diagnosis of generalized hypotonia of infancy, particularly in the setting of a maternal autoimmune disorder.

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