[Guillain-Barré syndrome and cytomegalovirus]

Abstract

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is the leading cause of acute flaccid paralysis in developed countries. It usually follows an infectious disease, cytomegalovirus (CMV) being one of the most frequently identified triggering agents. Little is known about the epidemiology and the prognostic factors of GBS following primary infection by CMV. We analyzed clinical and biological data from over 500 patients hospitalized from 1996 to 2006 in a French reference centre for GBS, and identified 63 cases of CMV-associated GBS. Our results confirm some of the clinical features previously described. We also report some new insights into the epidemiology and the prognostic factors of the disease. Finally, our results suggest a possible involvement of viral replication in the neuropathological processes of CMV-GBS, but this point requires further investigation.

Keywords: Guillain-Barré syndrome; cytomegalovirus; epidemiology.