Incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome among Zika virus infected cases: a report from Thailand

Incidência de síndrome de Guillain-Barré em pacientes infectados pelo vírus Zika: um relato da Tailândia

Dear Editors,

Zika virus infection, at present, is a global public health problem. The neurological complications of Zika virus infection are very interesting. Guillain-Barré syndrome is an important complication that is widely reported¹. Here, the authors summarize and report on the incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome among Zika virus infected cases in Thailand. To-date (August 2017), there have been 1,417 accumulated patients with Zika virus infection and there are two patients (0.14%) with Zika virus-related Guillain-Barré syndrome. This rate is considerable lower that those previously observed in Polynesia and South America^1,2. These data confirm that the neurological problem of Zika virus infection is not a significant problem in Thailand³. The mild nature of Zika virus infection in Thailand and tropical southeast Asia is an interesting topic for further studies.

References

• ¹
  Araujo LM, Ferreira ML, Nascimento OJ. Guillain-Barré syndrome associated with the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2016;74(3):253-5. https://doi.org/10.1590/0004-282X20160035
  » https://doi.org/10.1590/0004-282X20160035
• ²
  European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Rapid risk assessment: Zika virus infection outbreak, French Polynesia: 14 February 2014. Stockhom: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; 2014 [cited 2017 Aug 20]. Available from: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/Zika-virus-French-Polynesia-rapid-risk-assessment.pdf
  » http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/Zika-virus-French-Polynesia-rapid-risk-assessment.pdf
• ³
  Wiwanitkit V. Guillain-Barré syndrome and Zika virus infection. Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2016;74(8):692. https://doi.org/10.1590/0004-282X20160089
  » https://doi.org/10.1590/0004-282X20160089

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Jan 2018

History

• Received
  22 Aug 2017
• Accepted
  22 Oct 2017