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Case Reports
. 2020 Oct;26(5):797-799.
doi: 10.1007/s13365-020-00884-7. Epub 2020 Jul 27.

Severe rapidly progressive Guillain-Barré syndrome in the setting of acute COVID-19 disease

Rory M C Abrams  1 , Brian D Kim  2 , Desiree M Markantone  2 , Kaitlin Reilly  3 , Alberto E Paniz-Mondolfi  4 , Melissa R Gitman  4 , S Yoon Choo  4 , Winona Tse  5 , Jessica Robinson-Papp  6
Affiliations
Case Reports

Severe rapidly progressive Guillain-Barré syndrome in the setting of acute COVID-19 disease

Rory M C Abrams et al. J Neurovirol. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

There is concern that the global burden of coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection might yield an increased occurrence of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). It is currently unknown whether concomitant SARS-CoV-2 infection and GBS are pathophysiologically related, what biomarkers are useful for diagnosis, and what is the optimal treatment given the medical comorbidities, complications, and simultaneous infection. We report a patient who developed severe GBS following SARS-CoV-2 infection at the peak of the initial COVID-19 surge (April 2020) in New York City and discuss diagnostic and management issues and complications that may warrant special consideration in similar patients.

Keywords: Coronavirus-19; Guillain-Barré syndrome; Neuromuscular disorders; Polyneuropathy; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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