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Zika Virus Outbreaks May Be Linked to Guillain-Barre Cases

Gemini

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East Coast USA
Zika virus outbreaks may be triggering the surge in cases of the autoimmune disease, Guillain-Barre in Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, El Salvadore & elsewhere reports today's front page New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/22/w...to-surge-in-rare-syndrome-in-brazil.html?_r=1

Article may be behind paywall, here are excerpts:

"Guillain-Barre typically occurs a few days or weeks after someone has had symptoms of a respiratory or gastrointestinal viral infection, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in the United States."

"Patients with Guillain-Barre are often treated by removing blood from the body, separating it, returning the red and white blood cells, and discarding the plasma. Scientists are not sure why it helps Guillain-Barre patients, but they think it may be because it removes antibodies made by the patient that are attacking the patients nerves in an autoimmune reaction."

"The CDC is viewing Guillain-Barre as a serious risk. It is helping Brazil conduct a study this month to evaluate if any link exists between the condition and the Zika virus."

Another instance of infection triggering autoimmune disease? Maybe genetic & molecular tools can be put to good use here.
 
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Snow Leopard

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This is an interesting hypothesis, but statistically impossible to prove - at least without comprehensive electronic records for a whole population cohort.
 

Gemini

Senior Member
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1,176
Location
East Coast USA
This is an interesting hypothesis, but statistically impossible to prove - at least without comprehensive electronic records for a whole population cohort.

Yes, however...

On a slightly positive note the article cites a French Polynesia outbreak (8200 Zika cases, 268,000 population, 20 times incidence of Guillane-Barre). Here a single patient received an extremely thorough workup immediately after being stricken, followed as she progressed to GBS, results suggesting a connection:

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?Articleid=20720

The hypothesis in her case that sequential immune stimulation from two infections--Zika and Dengue-- may have lead to the autoimmune complications is quite interesting.
 

Gemini

Senior Member
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1,176
Location
East Coast USA
Zika virus outbreaks may be triggering the surge in cases of the autoimmune disease, Guillain-Barre.......

Update:

NYTimes, Jan 31, 2016, M. Osterholm, Dir. Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy, U. of Minnesota:

"Some critics are suggesting that such vaccine research for Zika should have been done years ago, but this isn't entirely fair.It was only in the past two years there was any indication this virus could cause serious human disease. Now we have to catch up. But it's going to be complicated. If Guillain-Barre syndrome is indeed caused by the patient's immune response to the virus, as happens with other infectious diseases, could the vaccine itself put us at risk? This will take careful research to determine."

[My bold]
 

Gemini

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Location
East Coast USA
It was only in the past two years there was any indication this virus could cause serious human disease.

Another update:


NY Times, Feb 6, 2016," Brazil Finds Zika Virus In Saliva; Risk Unclear":

"Brazilian scientists said Friday they had detected the presence of the Zika virus in samples of human saliva and urine, a first for Brazil..."

"French scientists had already published research last year in the Journal of Clinical Virology that located the Zika virus in human saliva following an outbreak of the virus in 2013 and 2014 in French Polynesia."

"A potential upside to Friday's revelation could involve developing urine tests as a diagnostic tool to determine when patients in Brazil have Zika."


It's good they're looking beyond blood for evidence of virus. Sometimes just blood status is considered in development of public health guidelines/policies.
 

Riley

Senior Member
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178
Across Colombia there have been almost 100 Guillain-Barre cases linked to Zika since the outbreak began last fall — about twice the usual number. Other countries where Zika is spreading — Brazil, El Salvador, Venezuela — have seen similar spikes. And it turns out the same thing happened a few years ago during a Zika outbreak in French Polynesia.

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...-a-mystery-is-zika-triggering-a-rare-disorder

Interesting. A viral infection triggering an autoimmune disease.
 

Gemini

Senior Member
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Location
East Coast USA
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...-a-mystery-is-zika-triggering-a-rare-disorder

Interesting. A viral infection triggering an autoimmune disease.

Thanks for posting @Riley.

There's another post about this, "Zika Virus Outbreaks May Be Linked to Guillain-Barre Cases", perhaps a Moderator could merge them?

CDC Director Tom Frieden has sent a team to South America to study Guillian-Barre's link to the virus:

www.c-span.org/video/?404213-1/newsmakers-tom-frieden

When Frieden says "only" 1 in 5 Zika patients develop severe illness it doesn't sound like a lot, however it's 20% and if 1.5 million are affected as reported in the newspapers that's 300,000 people.

What I find interesting about potential virus-autoimmune links is that viruses seem to trigger a "specific" autoimmune disease in patients (Guillain-Barre in Zika cases) rather than an assortment of autoimmune diseases, i.e., MS, RA, diabetes, etc. across Zika cases for example. I could be wrong but it would seem at a molecular level this one-to-one association would be easier to track down? At least I hope so and that the CDC team will use advance technologies along those lines.
 
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Gemini

Senior Member
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East Coast USA
They have been merged.
Thank you @Sushi.

Ian Lipkin on the Zika outbreak, Feb 23, 2016 NY Times:

"The consequences go way beyond microcephaly, said Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, who directs the Center for Infection & Immunity at Columbia University. Among children in Latin America and the Caribbean, 'I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a big upswing in A.D.H.D, autism, epilepsy, and schizophrenia,' he added. 'We're looking at a large group of people who may not be able to function in the world.'"

www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/health/zika-may-increase-risk-of-mental-illness-researchers-say.html
 

Gemini

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Location
East Coast USA