Guillain-Barré syndrome outbreak in Tapachula temporally associated with the Zika virus introduction in Southern Mexico

Abstract

The Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) has been previously associated with Zika virus infection. We analyzed the data from all the patients with GBS diagnosis that were admitted to a referral hospital, in Tapachula City during the period from January 2013 to August 2016, comparing the incidence of GBS according to the temporality of the Zika outbreak in Southern Mexico. Additionally, we described the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the GBS patients admitted before or after the Zika outbreak. We observed a sharp increase in the number of patients hospitalized due to GBS from the time the first confirmed Zika cases appeared in Mexico. Clinically we observed GBS cases before zika outbreak had more frequently history of respiratory/gastrointestinal symptoms and GBS during zika outbreak had significantly more frequently recent history of rash/conjunctivitis. Although we cannot affirm that the increased cases of GBS have a specific etiologic association with Zika, our results suggest that this observed outbreak of in Tapachula, might have been associated to the emerging Zika epidemic, locally and suggests that rare complications associated with acute infections (such as GBS) might be useful in the surveillance systems for emerging infections.

Recognition of Aedes aegypti Mosquito Saliva Protein LTRIN by the Human Receptor LTβR for Controlling the Immune Response

“…These symptoms are common in other diseases such as DENV fever and CHIKV making correct identification of ZIKV infected individuals even more difficult. ZIKV is one of the few mosquito-borne diseases associated with neurological complications [13,14]. ZIKV infected adults have a higher risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndrome and radiculopathy [13].…”

“…ZIKV is one of the few mosquito-borne diseases associated with neurological complications [13,14]. ZIKV infected adults have a higher risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndrome and radiculopathy [13]. Furthermore, ZIKV can be transmitted vertically from mother to fetus, which can lead to microcephaly and other severe neurological defects in newborns [3,11].…”