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Case Reports
. 2017 Oct 13:2017:bcr2017221874.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2017-221874.

Worsening Guillain-Barré syndrome: harbinger of IRIS in HIV?

Neeharika L Mathukumalli  1 , Niloufer Ali  1 , Meena A Kanikannan  1 , Sireesha Yareeda  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Worsening Guillain-Barré syndrome: harbinger of IRIS in HIV?

Neeharika L Mathukumalli et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Abstract

We report an HIV patient aged 38 years with acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy subtype of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) as the only manifestation of seroconversion and worsening of GBS being the harbinger of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). To date, only 5 cases of GBS during IRIS are reported. They manifested either during the third week or later after starting highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Our patient witnessed worsening weakness by fifth day after starting HAART, even before the occurrence of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, cautioning one of the impending serious complications of IRIS and helped us initiate steroids at an early date.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chest X-ray—PA view—Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia.  PA, posteroanterior.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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