LETTER

Risk of relapse of Guillain-Barré syndrome or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy following immunisation

J Pritchard, R Mukherjee and R A C Hughes

Department of Neuroimmunology, Guy's, King's & St Thomas' School of Medicine, Hodgkin Building, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 1UL

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr J Pritchard;
Jane.pritchard@kcl.ac.uk

Keywords: Guillain-Barré syndrome; chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy; immunisation; relapse

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Reports of the rare occurrence of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) following immunisation¹ and recurrence of symptoms following subsequent immunisation² have given rise to concern over the safety of vaccine administration in this patient group. Similar concerns have been addressed and dismissed in patients with multiple sclerosis,³ but no such information exists for inflammatory neuropathy. To provide more information about vaccine safety in GBS and CIDP we audited the recurrence of neurological symptoms following immunisation.

The Guillain-Barré Syndrome Support Group, a British patient organisation, posted 3000 questionnaires to its members, asking them to identify their illness, record all immunisations administered after their illness, and describe any symptoms within six weeks of immunisation suggestive of recurrence of GBS or worsening of CIDP.

All but one of the patients who reported neurological symptoms after immunisation were contacted by telephone to confirm their history and to grade their symptoms . . . [Full text of this article]

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• Hughes, R. A., Charlton, J., Latinovic, R., Gulliford, M. C. (2006). No association between immunization and guillain-barre syndrome in the United kingdom, 1992 to 2000.. Arch Intern Med 166: 1301-1304 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
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