Guillain-Barré Syndrome: A Case Report of Post Covid-19 Vaccination in the Philippines

Abstract

Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is a complex autoimmune disorder where a person’s own immune system damages the nerve and is usually characterized by ascending symmetrical weakness of the upper and lower extremities (Wijdicks & Klein, 2017). It is a rare condition and the worldwide frequency of GBS is only 2 in 100,000 adult individuals (McGrogan et al., 2009). Studies have shown its association with different vaccines but in these pandemic times, there is a lack of literature on post-COVID-19 vaccination-associated GBS. We report a case of a 68-year-old male from Caloocan City with an initial complaint of febrile illness followed by distal lower extremity weakness which started seven (7) days after the patient received his first Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine. We report a case of GBS that is related to the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine which adds to the body of literature that is currently available and may reflect a possible link.