Abstract

A comparative study was made in Japan and The Netherlands of the presence of preceding Campylobacter jejuni infections in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). It was conducted in two laboratories using different serological criteria. The Japanese results showed no significant difference in the frequency ofC jejuni infection between the Japanese (17/88, 19%) and Dutch (21/132, 16%) patients with GBS. The Dutch investigation showed a higher frequency in Dutch patients (45/132; 34%) than in Japanese patients(20/88; 23%), but the difference did not reach significance. Although the frequencies of precedingC jejuni infection have been reported to be higher in Asian countries than in western countries, the findings of this collaborative study show that the incidence of antecedentC jejuni infection in GBS in Japan is not higher than in The Netherlands and that serological assays vary considerably between laboratories.