Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Its Variants: A Case of Acute Motor-sensory Axonal Neuropathy in Jamaica

Abstract

This paper reports a case of a Jamaican young woman who experienced flaccid quadriparesis and bulbar weakness over a three-week period after a gastrointestinal illness. Nerve conduction studies confirmed an axonal type neuropathy consistent with the acute motor-sensory axonal neuropathy variant of the Guillain-Barré syndrome. Recovery, although evident, was slow and was augmented after a course of intravenous immunoglobulin. The patient was discharged from hospital after three months but was re-admitted one week later and eventually succumbed to complications of the illness. This case serves as a reminder that Guillain-Barré syndrome is now the most common cause of acute flaccid paralysis and should be considered early in all patients presenting with flaccid quadriparesis.

Zika Outbreak Associated Neurological Syndromes in Jamaica

“…Guillain-Barre syndrome cases were anecdotally infrequent in Jamaica. A young female with flaccid quadriparesis and bulbar weakness with the acute motor-sensory axonal GBS variant, occurring three weeks post a gastrointestinal illness and who later died from complications has been described (7). Guillain-Barre syndrome is an acute inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy commonly occurring two to three weeks after an infection as a result of antibodies directed at the infectious agent cross-reacting with peripheral nerve epitopes (8).…”