Does influenza vaccination cause the Guillain-Barré Syndrome?
Patients with the Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) exhibit the symptoms described by Guillain and Barré in 1916. GBS develops very quickly usually after a preceding infection. Patients with the hyper acute form of the syndrome lose the use of their legs within a day. 90% of the patients are seriously weakened during the first 3 weeks. GBS can be more serious in certain parts of the body than in others, and can even be life-threatening. The symptoms increase in intensity over a period of time, varying from a few hours in serious cases, to around 4 weeks in most patients. Patients with GBS may be almost completely paralyzed for a while. It has been shown that the symptoms might be caused by either demyelination or by a direct attack on nerve axons.
