While much of the focus on the Zika virus has focused on its link to a serious birth defect called microcephaly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the virus is also “strongly associated” with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a rare neurological condition that can strike anyone.
GBS is an autoimmune condition in which a person’s own immune system attacks the nervous system, causing muscle weakness, and sometimes, paralysis. The condition, which affects about 3,000 to 6,000 people in the United States each year, is often associated with a previous bacterial or viral infection and the CDC speculates the same pattern likely holds true for Zika, noting “GBS is very likely triggered by Zika in a small proportion of infections, much as it is after a variety of other infections.”
In Brazil, the epicenter of the most recent Zika outbreak, the national health ministry has reported an increased number of people who have been infected with Zika virus who also have GBS. The World Health Organization has documented eight countries or territories that have seen an increase in GBS since 2015. In some of those areas, including Brazil, Venezuela, Martinique and Puerto Rico, cases have been linked to Zika.
While the mosquito-born Zika virus itself is generally a mild illness for most healthy adults resulting in fever, rash and joint pain, GBS is a different story.
“For unclear reason, the Zika virus seems to induce the body’s immune system into attacking various body tissues,” explains Dr. Vinod Krishnan, a neurologist with St. Elizabeth Physicians. “One possible manifestation of this process is Guillain-Barre syndrome. This usually presents with a fairly rapid combination of weakness, numbness, and pain that tend to disproportionately – but not always – affect the lower extremities before spreading to the upper extremities, respiratory muscles, and face.”
Although symptoms generally abate after a few weeks or months and most people fully recover, some individuals experience permanent damage. About five percent of GBS cases are fatal.
“Prompt recognition of the syndrome is crucial to receive the medical interventions that can reverse the symptoms – irrespective of whether it is caused by Zika or not,” Dr. Krishnan says.
As of July 27, 1,658 cases of Zika, including five resulting in Guillain-Barre syndrome had been reported in the United States and another 4,729 had been reported in U.S. territories, including 17 resulting in Guillain-Barre syndrome, according to the CDC. While the vast majority of Zika cases in the continental United States are associated with travel outside the country, locally acquired cases have been reported in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in South Florida and public health officials are on alert as the Aedes mosquito carriers migrate north with the warm weather.
