The impact of preceding infections on the clinical presentation and prognosis of Guillain-Barré Syndrome: A focus on post-COVID-19 GBS

Abstract

This paper aims at comparing the results of GBS patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection with those patients who have developed the condition due to other infections including Campylobacter and Zika virus. In all, 295 confirmed GBS cases following COVID-19 vaccination were evaluated and showed 93.2 % of higher hospitalisation and substantial respiratory involvement, suggesting that COVID-19 vaccinated GBS course is more severe than GBS with other infections. Although the GBS development in Campylobacter-associated cases is considered to reveal less severe symptoms and more favourable prognosis after IVIG or plasmapheresis application, only 62 percent of COVID-19-associated GBS patients demonstrated the improvement, and long-term comorbidity is more expressive. The study also emphasizes that early symptoms and its severity are the key components for establishing the prognosis of the disease; patients with higher initial symptom severity initially often experience longer stays in the hospital and statistically worse outcomes. Moreover, different immunity to pathogens, revealed by MAbs, are underlain by dissimilar prognosis depending on the cause of infection. Thus, these results emphasise the need for a highly tailored approach to clinical management of GBS patients that would involve attention to the infectious pathogen. More study is required to fine-tune medical approach and enhance people's well-being since pathogens change over the time. The findings of this scholarly work add to the current understanding of the diverse manifestations and characteristics of GBS and inform clinical practice regarding the post-infectious neurological sequelae of the disease more broadly.